An Undead World.
Prologue
The rusty car door screamed as it was pulled open, eventually snapping off its hinges to crash onto the grass below. Revealed inside, still dutifully piled behind the wheel, was a pile of long bleached bones.
A girl held a flashlight as a boy bent inside to shift through what was left of the driver.
"Could you hurry this up," the girl demanded as she glanced around the ruined town. She knew they were very near the border now, just steps away was the territory held by the undead… and they did not like visitors.
Another teen stood next to her, he took a hit off a plastic bottle of whiskey, seeming less than concerned.
The young man threw bones out of the car, then ducked out with something glittering in his hand. The girl snatched it away from him, a wedding band rescued from the bone pile.
"See babe, a little risk and a lot of reward," the boy said.
The girl was silent, her eyes glittering at the precious metal that had belonged to the skeleton.
"Come on," the boy ordered while walking deeper into the ruined town. Once a vibrant community it had been one of the last settlements to be devastated during the war. Now it lay in the DMZ between the Sentient Reservation and territory held by the Hive undead.
As they ventured deeper into the village they could see the border now, marked by billboards hung with skeletons. This was the division between the Sentient and the Hive.
"Jackpot," their apparent leader cried as they reached the crossing of Main street and Vine. He rushed to a former Conoco station that was still in decent condition, though its sign had collapsed years ago and the fuel pumps were on their side. The garage doors were still there and rolled down, the rectangle windows were clouded but not broken.
The boy cupped his hands and peered inside, "there is a combustion vehicle in there! It might even work."
The other trespassers rushed over and looked inside, "wow, when's the last time you've seen one of those things in working order?"
"I think I've seen Brooklyn driving one now and then," the girl answered.
"He would," the apparent leader snorted. "After he sold us down the river to the Hive, why shouldn't he be rewarded with a working car?"
"No shit." The tall teen with the whiskey croaked.
The leader started smashing windows of the garage, trying to open the door to get at the car inside. "If we're lucky we could even drive this hog out of here," the boy grunted. "Imagine the looks on the faces of the girls back in Casper when we roll down main in a SUV with twenty four inch spinning rims! Think of all the bitches and blow…"
"You don't even know what you're talking about," the girl interrupted with a bored voice. "If Brooklyn doesn't confiscate the car right away, then where will we find fuel for it?"
"Stop spoiling my fun," the boy replied as a branch snapped from deeper in the village.
"Did you hear that," the girl hissed as she pointed the flashlight deeper into the flattened town.
The three fell quiet and watched. The tomb of a former town was silent, deathly silent, all the woodland creatures that crawled and climbed had abruptly stopped singing at once as if something dreadful was coming.
"I think we need to leave," the girl whispered, though the flashlight beam had not revealed a threat.
"Relax," the boy replied as he opened the garage door. The sheet steel barrier rolled up with a loud roar. "If we can get in here then we could drive out of this place."
The girl swept the flashlight across the devastated streets once more, the circle of light stopped on the vague shape of a man. The strange person just stood there, not moving, his stocky form barely outlined by the flashlight and the moon.
"John!" The girl hissed. "John! A zombie!"
"They wouldn't violate the DMZ," John called from the car he had discovered. He was looking into the windshield, the pile of rust and popped cushions inside was not giving him much hope that the old shit box would actually start.
But, as the girl watched, the zombie charged forward.
There were no more words, the girl simply dropped the flashlight and ran. The zombie streaked in after them and though the teenagers had a significant head start the predators were closing in fast.
The kids ran out of town, exhaustion closing around them like a pair of heavy gloves. Hoping to save their lives they ran toward a dry canal and tried to leap across. The two boys made the jump, the girl, however, barely missed. She hit the concrete side and toppled inside to tumble to the leaf strewn bottom.
"Hey!" She cried. "I think I broke my leg!"
The boys stopped and peered helplessly down at her, then glanced to each other and vanished. The boys continued running toward the relative safety of the countryside. The nearest settlement was fifteen miles away and the boys had a long jog ahead if they hoped to find help that night.
"Hey! John! You can't just leave me!" The girl screamed after them, but fell silent when she heard the sound of approaching zombies. Their footsteps stopped and four shadowed forms peered down at her from the top of the canal.
Chapter 1; Brooklyn.
The final bell had rung and the hallways were filled with young students rushing for home, Brooklyn joined them.
The red Gargoyle was in a rush and could not stop to chat with the students who wished him well. "Have a good rest of the day, Mr. Brooklyn." "I've heard of your good fortune, Principle. Congratulations!" "I'll see you tomorrow, Mr. Brooklyn!" Many of them hailed as he passed.
Brooklyn, fresh from one of his many duties in this post apocalyptic world, could only nod in hurried response. He was late and rushed through hallways crowded with children, cheerful artwork hung on the walls fluttered as his trailing wings disturbed the air.
He rushed up the stairs to the rooftop where he could catch a momentary look over Cheyenne, Wyoming before he continued on to a little white church where he was expected.
Even though it was mid afternoon, Brooklyn leapt from the lip of the roof and flew over the lines of students and quaint little houses; he quickly reflected that life had changed a great deal over the last few decades.
After their victory at Reveresburg the zombie menace only grew in strength and ferocity, they would continue their attack on humanity. What resulted was known as the Summer of the Sirens, named so because towns would sound their air raid sirens at the approach of hordes of zombies. Often the sounds of sirens would blanket entire regions, warning of the horror of an impending zombie attack.
But the Sentients had a weapon of their own. The remaining human leaders ordered a limited nuclear strike against the hordes of zombies and destroyed many cities.
The effect was limited. While the strike did vaporize a great deal of zombies the nuclear attack also killed plenty of sentient defenders, including New Olympians and Oberon's Children who had joined the fight. Worse, irradiated zombies made for deadly enemies.
But the point was made, the collective conscience the zombies had formed, known as the Hive, decided to offer peace and end the first war.
Still, the Sentients were stubborn and continued fighting. Many lives and much territory was lost before what few leaders that were left finally agreed to the Hive's overtures of peace…. Brooklyn had been amongst the delegates.
The result of the peace accords was exactly what Brooklyn was flying over, Reservations. The Hive set aside over a dozen reservations around the world for those crazy enough to remain free in their thoughts and actions.
In North America the plains states and Hawaii were set aside for the Sentients to do as they pleased. In Russia it was Siberia and Latvia along with much of eastern Russia, in China it was Mongolia, Indonesia was set aside for SE Asia, Australia got New Zealand and Tasmania, Africa got the Sahara region, the Mid East were shipped to the Sudan, South America got Brazil, Central America got Honduras. Iceland, Greenland, Japan, and Norway had also been set aside as well, but had since been eliminated by the Hive.
Brooklyn flew along in broad daylight, another so called 'gift' from the Hive so they would not have to wait until night to conduct negotiations with him. He soon found the church and came in for a landing to quickly slip in through the main doors. The program plaque at the side read 'Heather and DeSalle wedding.'
The wedding ceremony was already in progress as Brooklyn slipped into the crowd in order to watch.
The beautiful human-woman dressed in white was very dear to Brooklyn and it had been hard to let her go. Their relationship had started when she helped him evacuate five children from the Reveresburg massacre. Over the years that followed she had been a close friend, a lover, and a comrade at arms.
Now she was getting married for the first time to a nice human male that the red bomber knew would take good care of her.
Brooklyn tried to smile, but it was hard to do so. He knew he had not lost her because of their difference of species, he knew how little of a difference that made in this harsh world. He also knew that she still loved him, even as she spoke her vows to her new husband.
But, Brooklyn was a Governor within the Reservation, an important leader, all of the remaining Sentient beings had to come first before his own interests. Because of that, Brooklyn could not take care of Heather, and after a long love affair they went their separate ways. Now, they were both married to other people.
As the beautiful bride and the handsome groom recited their vows of eternal love, Brooklyn was aware of the church doors creaking open. He glanced over his shoulder to see a Currier slipping in and slowly walking his way.
Brooklyn sighed, he already knew that he would be missing the reception as duty was about to call.
The Currier saluted and handed the Gargoyle a message before slipping out as quietly as possible.
Brooklyn did not open the message immediately, instead he watched the newlyweds kiss and clapped along with the others, he was happy for Heather. It was then that he opened the message and read what was inside.
He sighed as he crumpled the message after reading it. The message read of another threat to the shaky peace that had taken place far from here. A group of zombies had violated the DMZ borders and attacked a group of teenagers, one had made it to a nearby town for help, the others were missing and presumed dead.
The message went on to state that the other Governors were gathering in the Reservation Capitol of Jackson, Wyoming to discuss war. To consider using the only effective weapon the Sentients had over the zombies: the remaining stockpiles of nuclear warheads.
Brooklyn knew that if the thousands of remaining nuclear weapons were used the zombie threat would end, and so would all complex life on the planet for the next ten thousand years. Another solution would have to be found.
He threw the ball of paper aside as he already knew he would have to fix this situation, to literally save the world once again.
Brooklyn slipped out before the marriage ceremony was over and made his way home, a modest ranch at the edge of the small city.
The moment he touched down in his yard he was instantly swarmed and tackled by a small horde of children. He fell to the soft moist grass while laughing, trying to savor this moment, to add it to his memories forever. Soon he would be facing the undead and all horror they brought… then he would rely on such pleasant memories to stave off madness.
Brooklyn never had a child of his own, but in these troubled times there were plenty of orphaned children to adopt. He and his mate Katana now cared for fifteen children of various backgrounds, including humans and Oberon's Children.
When he stood he saw Katana standing at the doorway. As he gave her a kiss he felt bad for the seriousness of his visit, of the fact that the kids would have to go to caretakers once again and hope their adopted parents would return.
"The state needs us," Brooklyn said to Katana.
Her smile instantly fell, "what's the situation?"
"Another cell of zombies has gone rogue," Brooklyn said as he followed her inside; she instantly started packing their gear. "The rogue cell attacked a group of teenagers within our borders."
"Is this a search and rescue? Or a body recovery," Katana demanded as she laced her sword and hung it over her shoulder.
Brooklyn sighed, there had been a Sentient Reservation in Japan. A small movement within the population decided to rebel and attacked the Hive near Tokyo. In retaliation the Hive crushed the Reservation, drowning the survivors in the Sea of Japan.
The Hive allowed a few survivors to escape in order to inform the other Reservations of the price of violating the peace accords, Katana had been one of them.
This scenario had taken place two other times in other parts of the world with similar results.
"Its just like all the other missions," Brooklyn replied. "There really is no reliable information."
"Then go get Val, if you haven't already," Katana said, her voice dark and serious as she always was when it came to dealing with the Hive.
Brooklyn assumed it was because she relived the days when the Nippon Reservation was crushed around her. When she was forced to stand with the other 'lucky' survivors and witness the old and young herded into the rolling surf where they would die of drowning or exposure over the course of a week.
Katana was hardly special, these troubled times everyone had a reason for revenge against the Hive, all had witnessed their share of horror.
Brooklyn saved his wings by taking a bike several miles to the south, outside of town; there he rolled into the driveway of another ranch.
The yard was well decorated with marble sculptures in every state of completion. In fact, a tall, slim, male Gargoyle was outside working on his latest creation, chiseling a block of marble into a winged woman. He was a talented artist and Brooklyn shook his hand, but he was not the reason for Brooklyn's visit. That reason was sun bathing in the backyard.
Val lay naked on the coarse grass while watching her horses play in the fenced off pasture. Finding the female gargoyle warrior in such a state was nothing out of the ordinary. Val was very proud of her athletic body and believed in naturalism and of free sex. She loved her boyfriend but would never marry him, she believed life was too short and violent to turn down good sex with any partner.
"Val," Brooklyn hailed.
Val propped herself on an elbow, she wore mirrored sun glasses and her dark hair was wet and swept back. She had a body that put Katana's to shame (though her's was fantastic as well). Large breasts, lean muscles, and not an ounce of fat, it was certainly understandable of why Val was proud of it.
Val had been a Canadian Gargoyle before the war. Early in the war she went with her clan's warriors to attempt to save Toronto from the undead invasion; the war party didn't even make it that far.
The Canadian Gargoyles attempted to fight through waves and waves of zombies… Val was the only survivor. Among those lost to the undead were her former mate, a tragic event that helped shape her view on love and sex.
She returned to Yellowknife and convinced the remainder of the clan to hide and wait. Because of her wise counsel the Nanuuk Clan was one of the largest Gargoyle clans left in the world.
Val, however, vowed to battle the Hive until she was dead, or until she liberated her captured comrades.
Still, Brooklyn felt as if his Katana had the better personality. Though Val had seen tragedy twice in her life, first when her clan was chased out of their traditional homeland in Greenland by humans, and again during the war against the undead. Val still kept a mercenary, soldier of fortune attitude toward life in general.
For her everything was excitement and arousal.
"Why don't you strip off those itchy clothes and join me," Val winked.
"The state needs us," Brooklyn replies.
Val smiled, "finally! I was just starting to get bored!"
Brooklyn assembled Val and Katana and they started out immediately. The journey would be exhausting as they could not go straight to the incident site, but first had to meet with Congress in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Brooklyn put up his comrades in a hotel for the day while he would go and try to head off annihilation with Congress.
Congress, the gathered leaders of the North American Reservation, set up government in the gym of the local high school. As Brooklyn made his way through rings of guards he could already hear loud arguing inside.
He paused at the door long enough to sigh in frustration. The Sentient Reservations had been ordered by the Hive to use a Republican form of government, so the people voted for their representatives who would serve in Congress.
Too bad the Hive did not give any further instructions on how to run the Reservations. The people tended to vote for young leaders, those that advocated harsh treatment toward the Hive, including war.
Brooklyn knew that the Hive was right about one thing, Sentients were stubborn, they would never give up the fight. Eventually the Sentients would vote for war and the Hive would have their excuse to wipe them all out.
He emerged into the gym and walked before the bickering leaders of the last free humans and Gargoyles and stood behind the podium; the leaders slowly fell silent, Brooklyn still carried a great deal of weight with them due to his great service in the wars, at least for now.
"I hear a lot of angry voices here," Brooklyn said. "Voices that demand retribution and war. I just ask for a chance. Give me a chance to find the lost kids and talk to the Hive and head off an incident. If I fail…" Brooklyn was silent for a moment, his next words were sour in his mouth. "Then you can have your war and I will fight for you to my last breath."
Congress, made up of young warlord wannabes gave a guttural cheer, it was clear that they loved the idea.
Brooklyn sat at the shotgun seat of a speeding SUV. He had been fortunate to call off Congress from declaring war, at least for now. In return Congress had granted him better equipment and more personnel in order to find the missing teenagers.
Brooklyn felt pressure to bring results. Either to find and capture the trespassing zombies, or to find the teens, alive preferably. That would be the only way to swerve Congress from declaring war.
He glanced over his shoulder to see the two sleeping ladies in the back seat and missed his family. He remembered when he was able to sleep like they were now, before he felt the weight of the world on his shoulders. Before he had to keep the remaining Sentients from destroying themselves in a foolish war against the nearly invincible Hive.
Still, he felt lucky. He had so many beautiful people depending on his every decision. For their sake he would avoid war with the Hive, at all costs.
It was near evening when they arrived near the target area of their mission, outside the former site of Princeton, South Dakota.
"We are going to head in immediately," Brooklyn reported to the logistics officer who had been provided by Congress along with a hundred warriors who would remain in reserve. "Make camp here, but be ready. We may need you at any time tonight." Brooklyn ordered.
Val and Katana were very quick to pack up the necessary gear for an overnight mission. They were ready by the time Brooklyn was through with his briefing by slinging on backpacks.
Brooklyn put on his backpack, shouldered a bola launcher and a grenade rifle, he nodded toward his assistants and they took off toward the city; preferring to fly over before hiking in.
They pulled a low altitude orbit over Princeton, searching for the missing teens or any threats in the area. All they found was a small, shattered, village that was long overgrown by tall oaks.
The three landed just outside of town and prepared to conduct another search on foot. First, Brooklyn checked his satellite read out of the area (thankfully, the zombie Hive could not take out telecommunications.) The area was clear, even Minnesota-land across the DMZ which now firmly belonged to the Hive was quiet.
"No sign of them," Brooklyn reported to Katana and Val. "But when we go in always act as if they are watching, because they are. Val, I want you covering our backs, keep to the treetops. We all know what to do, we've done it a million times before. We are the best at this, that is why we are here."
Val and Katana nodded
At least Princeton wasn't very big…
The small village of Princeton had been on the receiving end of several offensives and counter offensives during the war. In fact, the first feature Brooklyn and Katana passed were the slit trenches where the residents took shelter from rampaging zombies and falling explosives during attacks.
Now, long abandoned, Princeton was being overrun by an oak forest that had originated from nearby former agricultural fields. The shattered buildings now had trees growing through them, tough grasses and fungus broke up the streets and sidewalks. The skeletons of the war's casualties long disguised by nature.
After two hours of searching Brooklyn moved aside a clump of leaves as Katana searched nearby.
"I think I found the missing girl," Katana cried.
Twenty feet away Brooklyn said, "yeah, I think I found her too."
Katana and Brooklyn went to the remains of the village post office and there they took out rations.
"We found the girl," Brooklyn reported via communicator to Val. "No sign of the boy. Wait until we're done eating and you can have dinner as well. Prepare to spend the night."
"Copy," Val muttered in reply over the mic.
Brooklyn and Katana chewed in silence, watching the setting sun's rays broadcast through the shattered buildings. Though it had been a demanding day Brooklny felt little hunger, it felt as if his stomach had twisted all around and lit itself on fire.
"You need to eat," Katana commented.
Brooklyn grunted in return.
"What are you thinking about," Katana asked.
Brooklyn was silent for a long moment before responding, "about how nice it would be to have children of our own."
"You know how much I would like that," Katana replied with a guarded expression; they already had this conversation before and she already knew his feelings on the matter.
Brooklyn continued. "I don't want to bring up our children in a world where we could see the dismembered corpse of a young woman and eat immediately afterward as if it were nothing," Brooklyn said.
"I know that's how you feel," Katana sighed. "But we only live once, and despite our circumstances we could give our children a happy upbringing. Our adopted children aren't complaining." She laughed. "Our eldest is doing well in Congress."
"Maybe, if Congress ever stops its saber rattling…" Brooklyn said.
"Sure," Katana replied. She knew that many women had loved Brooklyn but eventually left him, all brokenhearted. This was because Brooklyn never gave them what they wanted, he was for the people first and everything else came second. Katana had long learned to live with Brooklyn's incredible red hot passion and ice cold neglect. She knew Brooklyn was a great man and complimented her by making her his mate, she assured herself that all else would come in time. "So what's the plan?" She asked, hoping to change the subject.
"We'll set up a blind and see if the zombies return to finish their meal," Brooklyn replied. "If we're lucky enough and the zombies return, we'll capture them, if we can."
After the grim task of rearranging the dead girl from her resting place to an open spot on Main street, Brooklyn and Katana set up shop on the Post Office. As night fell ominous clouds rolled in from the west and soon freezing rain began to fall, pinging and clanging on the naked rusting metal of the town, as well as moistening the dead girl's gray flesh.
Brooklyn and Katana shared a waterproof sleeping bag, which actually helped alleviate the misery greatly.
"This reminds me of when we first met," Katana commented to her man.
Brooklyn smiled in recognition.
"At the end of the third war we were posted to that terrible building without a roof and it started snowing," Katana said. "We just had that one blanket and you started kissing me and tearing my clothes off, you couldn't hold yourself back…" She noticed that Brooklyn's smile had faltered. He was frowning and premature care lines were showing between his eyes and at the corner of his mouth.
"Three wars have broken out between us and Them," Brooklyn said. "Each time the Hive has destroyed a Reservation. I wonder how long until they are sick of us as pets and wipe us all out."
"Maybe you worry too much," Katana said while planting a kiss on his beak. "Perhaps you worry too much and everything will turn out okay in the end."
Brooklyn was surprised at her break in protocol, normally his woman was dead serious on a hunt like this one. But as she kissed his face and ran her tongue down his throat, he couldn't help himself.
He felt like an animal when he rolled her on her back. Kissing ferociously while his hands searched her warm flesh as if for the first time, feeling her soft skin and inviting curves.
Clothes slipped off as if made of liquid, her soft skin, his hard muscles, bound together.
"Hello, hey!" A tinny voice cried from abandoned communicator. "Brooklyn! Pick up the communicator!" Val's voice cried.
Just about to finish the act, Brooklyn heard the communicator. Sweaty and slightly panting, he snatched up the device, "yes, Val!"
"Look at the bait," Val's annoyed voice growled.
Brooklyn took a quick glance, "shit!" He hissed as he saw four zombies surrounding the dead girl.
"I'm sorry, Brooklyn," Katana commented, trying to hide her emotions. She had never broken protocol before, but she just wanted him to be happy, especially with her. Now she had endangered the mission.
"Don't worry, lets get our stuff on and bag these suckers," Brooklyn replied.
"Do you want me to take a shot," Val hissed from the communicator.
"Keep watching our backs, Val," Brooklyn replied as he hurriedly threw on his body armor.
It took several tense seconds for Katana and Brooklyn to rearrange themselves in order to engage the enemy; thankfully the quartet of zombies continued their feast.
"Net and bola guns only," Brooklyn whispered. "I want to bring functioning zombies back to the Hive when I scold them for violating our borders once again."
"Yes, Brooklyn," his faithful mate replied.
Katana and Brooklyn took aim, it would take some trick shooting to get all of the zombies before they reacted; but Brooklyn and Katana had been worst situations before. They fired simultaneously, nets and bolas streaking to the massed target.
Before the ordinance hit, however, the non-lethal weapons burned to ash in mid air.
All of the zombies noticed Brooklyn and Katana now; one however, rose to hover in the air. It had been a woman and as she hovered twelve feet in the air with a shield of fire surrounded her, she was a super zombie, a pyro.
"Take a shot, Val! We're in trouble!" Brooklyn cried into the mic.
Val didn't bother with bolas or nets, she fired a rifled grenade that eliminated one of the regular zombies.
The super zombie was free to take a shot and did so. She moved the fire shield and molded it into huge fire ball that she flung at Katana and Brooklyn. The two Gargoyles tossed as much gear and their selves out of the way before the Post Office was engulfed in flame.
Brooklyn hit the ground, his gear scattering around him. He wasn't sure where Katana had ended up, but hoped she was okay. He lunged after the grenade rifle that lay nearby, but a zombie noticed him first.
The zombie charged in as Brooklyn grabbed the weapon, but it was too late to aim at the attacking undead. Instead the gargoyle used the tube to hold the zombie off as it tried to claw out his throat.
"Val!" Brooklyn cried. "We're in trouble! Take a shot!" He rolled around with the zombie who was much stronger than he was. "Val! Take a shot!"
But while he was fighting with the zombie, the super zombie rose before him, flame shield blazing brightly around her.
"Oh, shit." Brooklyn muttered.
But as the super zombie rose, it suddenly shattered like an over filled water balloon; Val had saved him again with a well aimed explosive round.
Brooklyn used all of his effort and threw the zombie off of him. He grabbed the grenade rifle and fired into it, the zombie was torn in half.
Finally, silence reigned once more in the long shattered town.
"Katana!" Brooklyn cried as he jumped to his feet. "Katana!"
"I'm here," she said as she rounded a former mom and pop grocery store.
Brooklyn sighed and rushed to her, kissing her as Val landed before the downed super zombie.
Assured, Brooklyn and Katana went to what was left of the zombie as well, its one remaining arm was flailing as the zombie lay on the ground.
Brooklyn looked to Val and said: "Thank you."
"You've saved my life countless times," Val replied. "Just make sure that when a zombie is about to put me under, that you don't miss. You owe me now, don't forget that."
"I won't." Brooklyn nodded quickly, "there was another zombie…"
"I got it," Katana replied. "I was lucky enough to land with my net gun and managed to take it."
"Good work," Brooklyn said as he kneeled before the super zombie.
She, or the former 'she', lay with her legs and right arm torn off. Her only functioning arm flailed about as if it were attempting to get back up. The super zombie had been quite beautiful in her former life, but it was good not to notice such things.
"Who sent you," Brooklyn demanded.
The zombie's eyes were wide and blazing as it struggled. Brooklyn was aware of, and had hunted plenty of rogue zombies, but this was the first super zombie who had ever violated sentient territory.
"Did the Hive send you," Brooklyn demanded.
The super zombie, who had been a beautiful human woman, fell still. The fire in its eyes drained and its skin went gray and cold.
Brooklyn sighed and slowly stood. He knew the Hive could not keep control of all of its many millions of normal zombies, but the Horde had always kept close watch over its super zombies. Without a confession from the zombie itself it was impossible to assign blame.
"Get our prisoner," Brooklyn ordered his ladies. "Let's rendezvous with our support personnel in two hours. I will meet with the Hive tomorrow and find out what's going on."