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Archive 24 / midnight-macabre
Triggers: Graphic violence, body horror, gore, possible sexual activities, weapons, trauma, hunting
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Lee Boone BOT 19-Jul-23 06:26 PM
I was propped up on my elbows and perched atop the rocky red mesa as the hot afternoon air blew across the open desert. From behind me came the heavy breathing of a tethered horse, and occasionally the noise of hooves in sand when the scalding wind would buffet up the cliff face into its long fuzzy snout. The gusts would be accompanied by a spray of sand that stuck to the skin, and filled the gaps in your flesh with a concrete of scratchy dust. Smooth reflective metal encased two polished pieces of glass, and the old pair of binoculars were pressed against my face as I peered across the desert like an old hawk atop a barn. Although my duster did a good job of protecting me from the sturdy plant life and dry cracked earth it did little to stop the oppressive heat from slowly robbing my body of all moisture contained within. I had only been in this spot for a few minutes and already I wished to be back on my horse so its trotting movement would generate some sort of cooler over me. Years of discipline in similar scenarios is all that allowed me to stay still at this point, and my focus was honed in on the sprawling complex several miles away. The buildings stretched across the expanse of heat like a colossal dead beast, and from this angle if you really used your imagination the long group of structures seemed to curve like the neck of a serpent before ending at the far end where two giant posts secured an old gate. At each corner of fencing was a spindle of stairs that ended with a crown of glass that was shaped octagonally and betrayed the area’s true location as a prison. Most of the windows of the aforementioned guard towers had long since shattered or been broken, but sometimes the blazing sun would catch a shard still intact and it would reflect a beam of painful white straight into my eyes.
18:27
. After blinking away another blast of the lighthouse-esque effect, my squinting face scanned down the road from the entrance, memorizing the tail layout from my current vantage point. It was a giant double mirrored cross of dirt roads, and at the center of each square was a small group of buildings that were undoubtedly the cells themselves. Surrounding each block would be smaller square shaped trailers, likely storage or observation, and then at the very center was a large brick building that contained the mess hall. Dotted around the outside were croppings of smaller sheds that had no windows, and from here most of them still seemed to be untouched. Surrounding the stained brick of the central cafeteria is a giant makeshift wall built of stacked train cars and other gathered debris. It was an impressive sight that not only had me pondering how many working people it took to complete, but also how they managed to pile the heavy materials so high. It was hard to tell from this far away, but it had to be at least three stories tall.
18:27
. Rumors, mutterings, secrets, and drunken fools all mumble about how no one has been seen atop or near the structure for a long time. Supposedly at one point the encased area was patrolled by sharpshooters, and there were many tales of years past some fool wandering too close before losing a lung or their life to a whizzing piece of lead. That was until something happened to their defenses and all the fucking monsters got in. Since then the story goes no one except those rotting messes are seen around the area. I had been staring at the Mondvern Prison horde for a while now, and still I could not believe just how bad they had fucked up. Before fifteen minutes ago the largest gathering of them I had ever seen was two maybe three-hundred tops. From here the swarming mass of writhing heads and flesh made my fingers tingle with fearful anticipation, and every time I tried to estimate the size my mind would grow dizzy when I neared the total. There had to be at least a couple thousand of them down there, and I was stuck on how so many gathered in the first place. I was coldly fuming over the fact I had not taken the warnings seriously, but the shame was overpowered at the tense obsessive thoughts racing over how a group of them so large had come to one place. Were they led here? Did something natural occur in this place that they could sense? I heard once of a Rancher further north who claimed that they liked to gather around the hot springs, but a lifetime out here in all this craziness also made one cautious of lies. Still it was hard to doubt all of it because my time also taught me that not everything was as it seemed with the ones who got sick. It was obvious to anyone with hunting experience that the smarter ones had a way of communicating without talking, and whatever science occurring there was outside this old cowboy’s pay grade.
18:27
. Whatever plans I had cooked up before laying my eyes on this place were squashed down into nothing, and for the first time in many years of this I was at a complete loss at what to do. Even if I herded three quarters of them away from here it would still be too dangerous for forty armed men to enter, much less my stupid ass. Not to mention the layout of the bowl shaped zone the prison sat in raised the other problem of only having several square miles of space to work with. You could theoretically lead them all back up the pass twelve miles behind where I laid now, but that would be a monumental undertaking, and the community back that way would likely just come to kill you for the effort anyway. I exhaled quickly and my frustrated breath scattered fine dust into a plume that carried my curses down the blood red mesa and into the impossible puzzle that was suddenly my problem. In all honesty I wasn’t sure if I planned to just give up and go home, and foolishness coursed my body at thinking my history somehow qualified me for such a legendary place. Still, there was one annoying ache of a question that still lingered in my mind and everyone else’s who had ever come here. Who was keeping all the lights on?
18:27
@killahxkylie
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Briar Campbell BOT 20-Jul-23 08:00 AM
Twenty seven years. I'd been in these stupid dusty walls for twenty seven years now. Things had been good for such a long time, we'd all been safe and most of us had been happy. I can still clearly remember my father and uncle regularly standing watch outside, guns slung over their shoulders and binoculars held to their faces, I can remember the blanket of safety that I used to live in. It all seemed so silly now as I sat here carving another line into the brick wall. Has it really been so long since it all went wrong? According to the tally filled walls it's been over a year, going on two. "Another day gone." I mumbled to myself before stuffing some bits of old tattered blanket into my ears. It was getting dark and the noises at night were almost unbearable, it didn't matter how used to them I was. I couldn't sleep without them being muffled, it's not like they could get to me in here, they hadn't figured out how. It didn't take long to fall into my typical fitful sleep. Would the nightmares ever stop? Or was I cursed to forever see the flesh being torn from everyone I had ever known every time I closed my eyes? I swear sometimes their screams still echo off the walls. .
08:00
Every morning was like this. My eyes would flutter open and for the briefest of moments I got to pretend that everyone else was still here, that in a short while we would all be meeting in the cafeteria for breakfast. It only lasted a few moments though and then reality would come crashing back down on top of me. "Good morning Briar." I huffed to myself before getting up and crawling through the small hole in the back of the cell I called home now. I was still able to get food and water, I should be grateful for that. I could have easily become the food myself just like everyone else had. I rubbed the dusty feeling from my face as I browsed the quickly diminishing food stores. "Oatmeal it is." I grabbed a packet of it and got myself enough water to heat to make it and before I knew it the slop was ready. It was kind of fascinating the things you could get used to, the constant noise of what were basically animated corpses, I'd even gone as far as to name a couple of them. I shook my head at my own thoughts and washed out the bowl before creeping down the hall to take a shower. Even here the dust managed to coat your skin easily and I more often than not felt like a dirty dusty mess. .
08:01
There wasn't soap anymore, I had managed to run out of that a long time ago but at least I was able to keep myself from smelling like complete crap by bathing daily. Would the water ever run out? If it did I was going to be completely fucked. I had no idea how they had managed to keep the supply up, I know we have ways to collect rainwater but it rains so little here. I tried not to let the thought eat away at me and pulled on some fresh clothes and ran an old brush through my hair. "What should we do today..." I ran through my list of things I needed to check on and before the day was even halfway gone I had it all done. I was running out of ways to keep my gun clean and I knew eventually I was going to run out of bullets. Someday I was going to have to figure out how to get out of this literal prison and find a new home.. it just didn't seem very possible when there were what had to be thousands of those things were crawling the grounds. What the hell had even made them come here? We had been fine for so long. I peered through my scope and sighed heavily when I pulled it back down from my face. I missed everyone. "This is all your fault." I huffed and tossed a rock through the bars keeping me safe right into one of the stupid creatures' heads. It didn't phase me anymore when they came barging towards the door, they couldn't get through and eventually they'd get bored and start walking around aimlessly again. The only ones that really scared me were the ones that clicked. The noise was haunting and often echoed in my ears even when nothing was there. .
08:01
I spent the rest of the day just doing the things I needed to do to stay alive. Drink water, eat, don't go where the zombies can eat your throat out and drain your blood. I even managed to make my way through to get up to one of the old lookouts so I could just get a change of scenery. I loved looking out and imagining what else could be out there. I knew that the zombies were everywhere but were they this bad everywhere else? Were there other safe places? I had always heard people talking about them but we were safe where we were. Why would we move? Maybe if we would have then this wouldn't have happened and I wouldn't be completely alone. Sometimes it was suffocating. I stayed out there until the sun started to sink in the sky and I knew it was time to go back inside, back to where I was safe. Safer anyways. Once the sun was almost completely gone I knew it was time, lights on, ears plugged. Time to try to sleep again.
08:01
@bonghitsforfeds
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Lee Boone BOT 21-Jul-23 04:44 PM
I laid prone on the craggy edge of that cliff for much longer than I originally anticipated. The massive burning disk of hot pain hung lower in the sky now, and its long fingers of blazing heat shot across the prison scene at a setting angle. Draping tendrils spiraled out in parallel shapes as the evening shadows stretched deep dark lines across the rolling desert, and the entire scene would be hauntingly beautiful if not for the crowd of evil amassed within it. Like a rolling black sea of filth the heads of each creature rose and fell in a rippling pattern that would be neat if not for the nauseating medium it was made of. At some point a small bird whose species was unknown to me had landed off to my right, and its chirping alongside the roped off horse was the only company I shared up here. The black leather notebook laid open on its spine in front of me, and I had spent the afternoon carefully sketching the prison layout into its scratchy parchment surface. So far I was still unsure of a major plan, but if I was going to make one or attempt to recruit anyone I was going to need a solid foundation to build from. Still, the longer I spent sitting up here staring at the stupid site the less confident I became at ever overcoming the situation. Was it even worth it to solve this problem? What if once all the stupid things were led away the only thing left inside was a bunch of dead people and rotting food? All I would be left with at that point is the personal glory of having led the horde away, and no matter how deep I drew the road layout into my paper nothing is worth losing your life to those fucking things.
16:44
. I was busy penciling in the major layout of the western cells when a glinting piece of glass pierced my eyes with a reflective beam of sunlight and shook my focus. Countless times today alone I had suffered through one of the guard towers shooting a line of light my way, but this one danced back and forth several times and tickled my mind that something was amiss. With the familiar pair of binoculars in my hand I peered out over the shifting sands for the source of whatever flashed me, and I scanned the pile of old brick until my eyes waved over the lip of a far corner. For a brief second a fluttering strand of something appeared to lower itself downward into a control tower, and I froze my gaze upon that spot. Was I losing my mind? Had the hours atop this stupid rock finally pushed me over the line of madness? I lowered the dual lenses and shook my head until the thought rolled over, and once the last few strands of it shook loose of my mind I brought my attention back to that empty tower. The inside was hard to make out from this distance, and the railing surrounding the walking path outside the top of the structure had rusted away and tumbled down into the hot dirt long ago. Along the surviving partial piece of rail were several cans whose pried tops glinted even from here. Placing the lenses back into their faded hip pouch I rose up to my knees and frowned over the entire scene. Something didn’t sit right in my gut about the whole thing. At this point I was sure someone or something had to still be living inside, and I no longer felt completely safe in getting any closer. Maybe the reason people don’t come back is it was just the outer perimeter that got breached, and the survivors still murder anyone who gets close. Would the people inside even be thankful that I led the creatures away? I suppose it is possible that they have found another way out and just let the horde roam as a natural defensive buffer to any looters.
16:45
. Lost in thought the action of raising the rolled cigarette to my lips and lighting it with a brass butane lighter hardly registered as a conscious set of movements. However the deep inhale of burning tobacco that filled my lungs afterwards was definitely deliberate. Smooth notes of honey, tea, and painful smoke slowed the crashing roar of thought into a slower slide of panic. While puffing on the cig I made the choice to camp atop the mesa for the evening. A dull ache waved over my bones from the trip out of town today, and if I didn’t make a fire and ate cold rations there was very little chance of the night ones to find me. Chance. I rolled my own choice of word back and forth over my mind’s tongue, and I did not like the rotten taste it pasted over the muscle. It’s all risk at the end of the day, but they seemed less likely to climb the tall spots. Most of them were pretty dumb anyway, but rumors of ones that fly down south in old Mexico always had me nervous. Nervous, scared, worried, apprehensive, I am sure someday my heart will explode and I’ll keel over dead, but until then this cursed reality will have me fucking panicked.
16:45
. It took me much longer to get the camp set up than I liked, and I cursed myself for spending so long pondering the sunny vistas all afternoon. Something about age makes me slower, but not in the way I had expected it to feel when younger. Fascination for beauty and longing for old faces kept my mind locked in an undertow of second guessing. Youthful Lee would have sprung into things much quicker. Sure it got me into a lot more trouble in more ways than one, but I also just got more things done period. Sitting on the cotton bed roll I worked at unlacing my boots. The nice thing about being so high up is that you get a few more minutes of light, and I desperately wished to crawl over to the edge and get a final look at everything before laying down. That was until whatever thing was skulking the prison yard in the setting sun started screaming. The pitchy harmonic noise buzzed my head even from this far away, and whenever whatever the fuck was doing it stopped the rest of the swarming crowd would growl and chant in a similar chorus. Working on the second boot I shook my head slowly back and forth and stared with too much interest with wide eyes at the stupid shoe. Sometimes at night you would hear the older ones click or talk to each other, but never had I heard them sing like this, if you could even call it that. In another life a smarter me may have made a living researching the weird evolving calls the things do as the years went on, but too many years herding cattle and drinking barrel aged whisky rotted whatever part of my brain could have learned that way.
16:45
. Maybe I was being too hard on myself, but it was difficult to not get melancholic when several thousand carcasses were singing hellish melodies in the place you have to work. It’s funny how things now make you wish for the simplest of old luxuries. I never thought all those nights camping out beside grazing herds would be the best sleep I ever got, and the huffing long breaths of resting cattle accompanied by their rolling moos were a harlot’s song compared to tonight's noises. It took three more cigarettes and a fingers worth of spirit before my mind settled enough to drift. My dreams were of being stuck in a theater while the monster’s wails pierced even the sandman’s veil, and I was forced to endure their horrific show all night. @killahxkylie
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Briar Campbell BOT 22-Jul-23 02:33 PM
Why do they do this?! WHY CAN'T THEY JUST SHUT UP?! Even with my hands pressed against my ears and with the old shreds of fabric stuffed inside them nothing could completely keep out the chorus of the dead. It was unlike anything I had ever heard before and it terrified me to this day. I'll never forget the first time I heard it. It was a mere few days after they had first torn through our barricades and made their way inside the prison, it didn't take long for them to have cornered and killed everyone I had ever known. So many of us were armed but our numbers were nothing compared to theirs. I still haven't been able to figure out why the one screams the way it does, or why the others respond. All I know is that the sound is haunting and within it I can hear the echoes of my past getting ripped to shreds. .
14:33
I know that the night is going to be filled with nightmares especially now that the chorus has started but still I can't keep my eyes open forever and eventually, they flutter shut and my unconscious mind takes control. Screams. All I can hear are screams. Screams from the dead, screams from the living, the vile smell of fresh blood that coated the floor and walls for days. I can feel the way it clung to my skin, mixing with the dust to cake on in a putrid layer of death. I can feel my heart pounding so hard and so loud in my ears that I think it might burst. The way I clambered back into the cell that I now call home to make myself as small as possible knowing there was a chance I was next. Before I know it my eyes shoot open and I'm sitting up gasping for breath. Breathe Briar it was only a dream. Breathe. "Fucking undead assholes WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LET ME SLEEP?!" It took me a few moments to realize that the sun was already up and I had already slept the entire night. "Whatever. You're all still undead assholes." I grumbled as if any of them could understand me. They barely even paid attention to me anymore unless I was moving through the few areas I was brave enough to. Maybe they weren't interested because I was more dead than alive at this point. .
14:34
I once again made my way into the kitchen to find something to eat, taking careful count of what I had left. I really needed to secure the courtyard where we had the gardens again somehow but I was running low on ammo and going into that area with nothing but a blade didn't seem wise. Something had to be done though or I wasn't going to make it through another season. I tried to work over some kind of plan in my head as I shoveled the bland oatmeal into my mouth and just grew more and more frustrated, having to stop myself from whipping the bowl at the wall if only because it had become my favorite and I used it every day. "Looks like the prison has become a prison again pops, so much for it being a haven instead." He had always told me not to think of it as a prison, 'it hadn't been a prison since humanity fell apart' and 'now it's our home, its a safe haven.'. It's a crock of shit is what it is. I'd never known anything else, but I knew well enough what the purpose of a prison was. To keep people in. How many people died inside these walls before all of this had happened? "Who picks a prison to settle down in anyway.." I knew I was moping, I was pitying myself for being stuck in a shit situation that I was losing the hope of ever getting out of. I had managed to clear a couple areas so that I wasn't just stuck in one cell and the food storage but it wasn't enough. I wanted to get out of here, I wanted to see people again. I wanted life. There was no way that this was how I was going to die after being stuck in here staring at bits and pieces of everyone else for so long. I was meant to survive, I was meant to get out. Right? I went to shower off and then washed some of my clothes the best I could before climbing up to that same lookout to hang them up to dry. The wind seemed to be the most forgiving at this time of day for some reason and I knew it was the best chance I would have at drying them with the least amount of dust being on them after.
14:34
@bonghitsforfeds
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Lee Boone BOT 22-Jul-23 06:46 PM
Fragmented sleep made a poor omen for the morning, and I was not happy to see the entire sun’s shape already having conquered the horizon by the time I woke up. The lean-to tent had sagged from winds overnight, and I made a mental note to secure my campsite better if I stayed atop the same mesa another evening. After rolling both my shoulders until the sore burning lulled down into a soft ache I reached for a morning cigarette. Puffing the slow billowing clouds into the already uncomfortably warm morning was a satisfying meditative gesture that allowed me a few moments to plan by day before jumping up and securing the camp. Cookie looked on with her reflective warbling eyes, and the early light danced in her judgmental stare as she huffed a frustrated blast of air. No doubt she wanted the apples and other various snacks stashed in the tan saddle bag slung from her back, but she knew that this selfish morning break of mine always came first. I frowned a sad silent sorry in her direction, and her gaze snapped back over the cliff edge as a morning warm air blew dangling tendrils of her braided mane into spirals. I was thankful the wise beast chose to break eye contact as her melancholic looks always drew up out-of-tune heart twangs.
18:46
. After stamping out the filterless burning butt into fine dirt I made quick work of packing down the tent before stashing the materials behind the saddle’s rear. Cookie snatched the bruised fruit from my hand, and I could tell from the way she refused to look at me that the measly meals did not make up for my assumed neglect of her. I used the chest of my duster to wipe a dangling bit of food from her snout before patting a few long pets into the white strip that rivered her face. An ear twitch told me I may be forgiven someday, and that appeased me enough to turn my back on her. Sometimes I got the creeping sensation the equine beast was plotting my murder like an old vengeful housewife, but some part of the stubborn creature must have been aware it was better off with me then the howling evil that grazed the world. Sometimes when the wind slowed and all the tiny creatures stopped stirring Cookie would raise her intelligent head to the air. She would scan back and forth, always in a northerly direction, and if the wildlife did not pick back up she would slowly stir up into an inconsolable panic. She kicked a few farm critters to death one night in a fit and cost me a good grip of work to make up for the disaster, but I never judged her because whatever animal instinct triggered inside of her in those magically quiet moments scared me more than a fate to munching teeth. ‘Don’t go North,’ was advice I heard just as much as, ‘don’t go South.’ Lay down and die seems to be the only truth anyone will give you nowadays.
18:46
. After swallowing my own meal of lukewarm water, apple slices, and one more hot cigarette, I finally felt brave enough to look at the prison yard again. Crouching down and crawling over to the edge I peered nervously down with my toes anchoring myself to the dirt. A stalking ghastly presence threatened to grab my hair and yank me down into the desert, and I had to close my eyes and swallow a few times for the nervous fear of heights to settle. Once the false rotation of my entire reality ceased my eyelids parted slowly until finally the entire scene was visible again. I’m not sure what I had expected, but everything was still the same as the day before. The only perceptible difference was the blobby shape of crowded monsters from yesterday was more oval and spread out. My only guess was whatever annoying singing fuckhead down there had them all riled up last night managed to lead or scoot the crowd around. My mind etched into the side of my skull a half note about possibly utilizing a similar lure to lead the crowd away. If I somehow messed this entire situation up and brought the entire group down on myself, would I shoot myself before they got to me? Hazy memories covered by nights of drinking seeped up and played their films to me of past friends and acquaintances being ripped to shreds.
18:47
. Shaking the stupid destructive thoughts from my head I was just about to saddle up when a pulling in my gut told me something was different. Plucking the pair of binoculars back out the ringed metal pressed to my eyes and roughly two seconds later I spotted the disturbance. One of the burlier swollen ones was reaching its sagging muscled arms up at a forty five degree angle, and seemed to be grasping ragged sharp claws up at something. I tried to ignore the way it’s eyes had visibly swollen to baseball sized from here, and followed its hungry gaze upward. At first I thought it was pining for another swarming monster that was hung up in razor wire, but after staring at the shredded twirling stupid one wrapped up in the fencing I realized the first one’s gaze was higher. Tracing another invisible trail from the stumbling fat monster’s face I caught sight first of the rifle leaned against the hanging tower railing. The polished wood was too clean for its surroundings, and I’d like to think I was not so shit at scouting that a well maintained rifle would have slipped my hours of observation the day before.
18:47
. The slender arm piercing the edge of my field of view startled me so bad I emitted a tiny rabbit-like noise. I dropped the binoculars, and had the strap not been hung around my neck they would have plunged hundreds of yards down the cliff face before exploding into useless chunks at the bottom. Swallowing the panic down, I felt webs of frustration weave into my cool demeanor at having lost my cool at something over a mile away. After attempting to wipe the dirt from the lenses, and likely only succeeding in smearing finger grease into the grit, I shakily peered back over the desert expanse into the same tower. The young woman was hanging up various garments to dry in the breezy hot gusts that wrapped the morning up in a familiar hug, and a lump formed up in my throat at the assault of thoughts that immediately rocked my entire world. There were survivors? Do they know I am here already? Suddenly I felt very exposed laying on the side of the craggy ledge, and every inch of sky above me peered into me with thick harm. Any second a whistling kinetically propelled piece of burning metal could rip my neck open and send me spluttering blood. The perceived threat was so real that I placed a palm on my hat and pressed my head downward. Closing my eyes I counted the seconds in between heartbeats until the rushing memories of being under fire crept a full circle back into their dark cave.
18:47
. It was several minutes before the traumatic anxiety attack faded, and it felt like waking up from a nap when I finally looked at her again. She was lounging back in an old recliner, one that assumedly had been drug up from the lower levels of the prison, and I smiled at the stranger enjoying the mischievous fantasy of robbing a dead jail warden. I liked to imagine the furniture came from their office, and I had to shake the false assumptions from my mind before ruling out the pretty blonde as a threat. Pretty. I rolled my eyes at myself, and the rimmed metal of the binoculars bit into my eyelid from the expression. I am better than this, focus on the swarming mass of dead flesh, not the woman who would likely rather kill me for my horse than speak a word to me. Maybe loneliness and the stupid decisions that followed it were what would inevitably get me killed.
18:47
. It felt creepy, but I pondered the stupid survivor, her dumb leather chair, and whatever wrenches this through into my plan for quite some time. No doubt I could use her in my plans, but would she even cooperate? In all honesty that repeating question was the crux of my entire foaming worry moat, and the simple repeating wave of it was going to drown me. So still I laid in silent plotting that when she stood to adjust some of the hanging fabrics an aching pain in my neck told me I had been frozen for a while. Maybe it was the many years of doing this alone. Maybe it was the greedy thought of piles of untouched ammo and pre collapse loot, or maybe I was just a horny old freak who was about to attempt a re-routing of three thousand gnashing heads of evil just to chance a conversation with the cute blonde. The small makeup mirror slid from the red lacy silk pouch with a heavy clink, and I rubbed my thumb over the polished silver spot where a long dead lover had once made the same nervous movement a hundred times. With a deep breath I rolled my eyes a final time before spending a few seconds finding the sun's rays and started strobing a reflective beam toward the resting figure. Hopefully she won’t signal for some hidden sharpshooter to remove my heart from its cozy home in my ribcage. @killahxkylie
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Briar Campbell BOT 23-Jul-23 06:14 PM
After settling into the old dirty leather chair that I'd managed to drag up to the lookout with me, who knows how long ago I let my eyes close to take in the sun. I was tossing a stone that I'm pretty sure wasn't this round when I had found it and started making the habit of tossing it in the air only to catch it on its way down. I'd been doing it for so long now that even with my eyes closed I knew exactly when it would be at my hands level to wrap my fingers around it again and repeat. The fluttering sound of the clothes blowing in the morning wind was soothing. It was nice to hear something other than just the garbled noises of monsters. Sometimes I wondered if they were trying to say something for real or if it was just a leftover reflex from when they were fully alive. .
18:15
Something caught my attention through the thin skin of my eyelids and I couldn't help but squint with annoyance when I let them open again. "What the fuck...?" I muttered to myself and looked towards where I thought it was coming from. I assumed it was just the sun hitting a shard of glass somewhere but that didn't seem possible with the time of day and where the sun was. That's when my eyes caught it again, the annoying blast of light seeming to come from the mesa. "There's no way.." I moved from the chair to grab the rifle and held the scope close enough to my eye that I could make out a clear image through it. "Is that-" I pulled the gun away and looked in the same direction as if I would be able to make out the image more clearly without the scope somehow. It was only a few seconds before I was holding it back to my eye and the image of a man and a horse was still there clear as day. .
18:15
Two things ran through my mind almost instantaneously, the first being what the hell was someone doing way out here alone when there's an entire horde of zombies down below. The second, why the fuck is he trying to blind me with whatever the hell he's using to reflect the sun? "Ass." I huffed before setting the scope down again to grab a shard of glass for myself, plucking a decent sized piece from one of the windows of the tower that hadn't been completely emptied yet. It took me a few long moments but I was finally able to get the angle right to get the sun to bounce back in the stranger's direction. I wasn't exactly versed in morse code and I didn't know if he was trying to get something across or not. "I should have studied this more." My dad always told me that I should know it, that it could come in handy someday, but I didn't listen. Of course I didn't. That book is around here somewhere.. I should really find it. The only thing I did remember how to make was an S.O.S but given it was just one person and one horse I highly doubted they were here to do any kind of saving. Hell nobody else probably even knew I was alive. How long has he been there? I've been slacking on keeping a lookout but when you see the same thousands of dead faces it doesn't really seem important anymore. Anyone who tried to get in to get to me, if they even knew I was alive, would quickly be torn to shreds and left in a bloody lump on the floor.
18:15
@bonghitsforfeds
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Lee Boone BOT 24-Jul-23 09:03 PM
Fluttering clothing hanging from the tower rippled a drab rainbow of distraction. Through the magnifying lenses it had been hard to make out precisely what the stranger had been up too, so without them and with the added distraction it made it difficult to tell if the strobing was working. I doubted she would miss the distracting light if I kept at it, but years of hardly managing to escape death will make one paranoid of continual broadcasting to your presence. I hope if they or whoever they were with decided to take a shot at me that wherever the bullet landed made for a quick death, and that they spared Cookie. I lowered the mirror before glancing back over my shoulder at the horse, she stared back at me with a steely gaze suggesting similar thoughts stabbed at her. With a quick motion I plopped the mirror back into the pouch, and just as it slid back into its home a return flash of light dumped a tiny load of excited adrenaline into my tired body.
21:03
. While fumbling for the binoculars an exhausted liquid line of stressful sweat trailed my forehead. The moment I peered down the dual tubes I was punished for my stupid idea when the magnified image of reflected light pierced my eyes. “Shit.” Slipped off my dry tongue with angry vigor, and I shook my head while rubbing the pain out of my eyes with a dusty knuckle. With a spot still slowly shrinking in my vision I felt an odd fear dwindling inside while taking in the whole image. Some of the nearby crowd to her building had stopped to peer upward, and I hoped it was because they were merely curious. Once while huddling down in an old warehouse with a group of travelers bound for a mutual destination I heard an odd rattling of metal while restless late in the evening. After waking a fellow camper we wandered the old hallways until we found one of the things exploring a lower floor absentmindedly trying random knobs. It immediately ripped its gaze to our lantern light and leered at us angrily before falling onto all fours and scrambling at a spooked horse's pace out a window. The next morning when we investigated in the daylight we found it had fallen three stories, assumedly had sustained no injuries, and escaped unharmed. With that encounter replaying in my head I nervously suspected some of the ones glancing upward were of that smarter variety. It may have been easier to convince myself otherwise if not for the one singing last night.
21:03
. It was then after sitting up and pondering my own annoying memories that the flashing light’s message registered. The coded cry for help was not lost on this old cowboy, and I was very thankful for those late firelit nights spent reading books on long distance sea voyages. With no warning the reflected messages ceased, and I was plunged back into my loneliness. Peering through the dusty lenses back across the desert I spotted her standing there expectantly, and her long hair would flutter in graceful sweeps when the occasional lick of wind would brush up alongside the tower. “Fuck,” Was all I managed to say while still looking at her through the binoculars. This was not supposed to be a rescue mission. Working with others in this environment gets you killed. Seeping feelings of worry still pooled within me. Can I pull this off? It’s one thing to mess this up and just leave knowing I stirred some zombies around, it is a whole other ball game to know my failure could result in a woman dying a terrible death. She was young, and the creeping fear this entire encounter could turn out to be a trap was still skulking about. A young lady in need of help hanging her laundry and responding to signals seems the perfect honey pot to lure out a sad explorer like me. Cookie huffed behind me, and I nodded along as if she could read my thoughts.
21:04
. I didn’t know that much Morse code, and I lacked the proper supplies to somehow write a large enough message for her to read. I rose to one knee and drummed my fingers along the top of its curved form. The bone underneath thudded with rhythmic melody, and I chewed on my lip while contemplating my next move. A tiny voice demanded it was cigarette time, but it was easy to ignore the addiction when I knew there were only two left in my pouch. There was no sense sitting here and flashing mirrors at her all day if I had no clue what I was saying, and I suppose there had already been plans to clear this place before I knew she was here. Stepping into a polished stirrup I yanked myself up onto Cookie. While patting at her rear neck and waiting for her balance to settle, my eyes drifted back off over the mesa a final time. Hopefully she didn’t think I was abandoning her, and again I cursed at myself for even caring what she thought. It’s a rescue mission, she doesn’t owe me, right? With a tiny whip of Cookie’s halter she huffed a frustrated noise before starting our circular switchback trot down the opposite side of the mountain. “Don’t judge me Cookie. I’m lonely.” Dust kicked up behind me while the soothing kerklop of hooves drowned out all other sound. Wind whispered soft cool fingers into my face, and I began the hour-long journey down the rocky slopes toward the prison proper. @killahxkylie
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Briar Campbell BOT 26-Jul-23 01:44 PM
Glancing down as I tried to flash out the right message was definitely a mistake. Multiple rotting corpses seemed to meet my gaze when I did and I had seen more than one that could climb in my time here. My dad and uncles used to call them crawlers or spiders from how they seemed capable of scaling things like an eight legged freak. "Don't fucking look at me like that." I hissed as if they would still be able to understand me, as if it would stop them even if they could. I knew better, I'd tried more than once to make conversation with the creatures and had never gotten anything in return. I always felt foolish when I'd tried but loneliness will do strange things to people I guess. I kept my eyes flicking between the man standing atop the mesa and the zombies down below, I knew I had my gun and that being in the tower was safer than not but they still made me nervous. You never knew which ones were 'smart' until they were doing whatever it is you thought they couldn't. .
13:44
I was still flashing my sunbeam message when I swore I saw the man move to mount his horse. "Is he fucking leaving?" I dropped the piece of glass to the ground with an echoing clink in favor of picking up the rifle again to peer through the scope. "He's fucking leaving?!" It was funny how the whispered yell sounded so loud. I know that I shouldn't care about the fact that some man I've only seen from this far away was leaving but it's the closest I've been to another human with a still beating heart in so long that it made my own ache. I'd been telling myself this entire time that I didn't need anyone anymore. That I was just fine being here on my own. I didn't have to share food, nobody was around to piss me off. It was great. Except when it wasn't. I had nobody to talk to aside from myself and the ghosts that haunted my so-called home. I don't even remember when the last time I heard someone else's voice was or what they said to me. I'm sure it was probably one of my parents harping on me for something that I blew off. What I would give to have them bothering me about the chores I had always put off now. .
13:44
I let out a heavy sigh before I sat back down in the chair to keep tossing my stupid rock up and down, up and down, up and down. I could feel my mind racing with questions. Who was that man? Why was he here? Did someone send him? I had heard whispers of people that wanted to take the prison for themselves instead of coming to live with us peacefully. Was he one of them? Was he going to kill me? No.. that didn't make sense, he could have just done it without ever getting my attention. How is he surviving out there? Especially at night. We were never allowed to go out past dusk and once everyone else was gone I understood why. Things were always worse at night. Why did he leave? That was the one that stuck out the most to me. I couldn't keep myself from wondering where he was going and if I would ever see him perched up on top of that mesa ever again. "Fucking stop it you're being pathetic." I huffed out a laugh at that and shook my head. I didn't even know how long I was sitting there letting myself be lost in thought but eventually my stomach started to grumble again and so I plucked the wind dried clothes off the line and headed back inside to find something to eat again.
13:44
@bonghitsforfeds
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Lee Boone BOT 10-Aug-23 09:28 PM
My core ached from holding itself still atop the horse’s back. Cookie’s loud breathes huffed above the dusty hill, and occasionally her our stumbling path would kick up a current of resting rocks. They would tumble and dance down besides us before rattling off either side to be lost in the desert foliage. At some points the tilted angle became so extreme that I was forced to place a hand behind me and lean backwards to counteract the forward force. At first the old horse seemed frustrated by my shift in weight, but once she realized it was to center our mass she adjusted to the frequent disturbance. Going up had been its own battle, but I had not expected the abrupt change in effort required on the downward leg. Drops of sweat glistened my forehead that was curled into a focussed look of cross concentration. Somewhere ahead circling prey waited for their chance to swoop in and claim an easy meal. Occasionally I would glance upward to check for any new ones, and the task had me nervous to not be somewhere with my head covered. It seemed rarer for the critters to get changed the way people had, but I had seen with my own eyes vultures the size of men. I had heard of giant ground wasps too that crawl out of house sized hives to drag away unsuspecting people or livestock. If the thought of a giant bird picking apart your corpse scared you, imagine getting gored by an arm sized stinger before carried off into the sky screaming. These are fates that people in our reality found themselves experiencing, and no amount of sleeping in the desert will steel your mind to such horror. Hence why my eyes would dance upward to the circling beasts in fear of one ripping my head off before I could get a shot off. I’m not sure what scares me more honestly, the giant bugs, or the thought that I know these rolling planes still hide new fucked up secrets.
21:28
. With those fun thoughts skipping merrily through my mind I tried desperately to not focus on the mysterious prison dweller. Did she think I had abandoned her there atop the tower? She had to be aware that I wouldn’t just signal her like that to never return. I gulped at the prospect I may have somehow signed my own fate. Would she be angry upon my return that I had left?Did she have any experience out in this waste of space after everything went tits up? A wad of dried thick spit left my mouth as I spat it into the dirt. Stupid ground had cursed us, and now I have to help some dame trapped in a building. What if she didn’t want to be saved, and I left before she could communicate the fact to me? It would be very Lee to work my way all the way to the front gate just to be shot dead for pissing her off. That got me to laugh, and Cookie shook her head obviously upset that I even had the energy to be happy. Soft short fur felted between my fingertips as I pat at her tense neck. “Your kicking this hill’s ass old girl, keep it up and I have another apple for you.” She snorted as if to say I can keep my stupid apple, but I knew her well enough to know that either way she would accept the gift. The old creature was sassy, stubborn, and sometimes she even stole rations out of my satchels. However if there is something Cookie did every single time you asked her it was haul my fat ass around. No matter the time of day or how hard the fat sun beat his rays down she would burn her candle at both ends to get you somewhere. My mind was still running on about the girl, and I let myself get lost in the short dream of riding a horse with a woman. I had ridden alongside them in the past years while working, but to actually have the small arms of a girl wrapped around my waist… I was disappointed for how hot a smile it carved into my sun leathered face.
21:28
. The grit began to even out into a softer sand, and the hills began to curve toward a lazy ocean of dirt. Fist sized beetles buzzed from an occasional cactus flower, and dotted throughout the distance were clouds of swirling gnats. Usually a grouping of bugs like that was accompanied by a freshwater source, but I had not recalled seeing any on the way in or while atop the mesa. I noted the outlier in whatever massive blood soaked book was supposed to hold all my observed changes since hell took over. Off to my right unknown creatures fought a squeaky battle, and their chirping cries would be cute if not recognizable as rodent murder sounds. Cookie slowed her pace as we rolled out into the flat terrain, and after her breathing had slowed down from train whistles I offered her the red treat. In two munches she shredded the fruit, and lucky for me that encouraged her to keep trotting along. My self assigned goal on the way down had been to formulate a full plan, but I had neglected to do so in favor of day dreaming about the gorgeous lady. My head shook back and forth in self disappointment. “How do I even know she is pretty Cookie, I only saw her momentarily through glances of binoculars.” The horses head turned sideways to lock a mirrored eye to mine, and she held the gaze just long enough to say that it never stopped me before. It was a fair counterpoint, but she didn’t have to call me out like that. “Okay fair Cookie, but your just mad that I’ll make you carry her home.” Her scoffing huff was so well timed it genuinely gave me the creeps, and I just decided to shut up for a while after that. Besides, if I didn’t focus up on a real idea for freeing her things were going to get dicey rather quick. Lead lines pulled taught to slow our trotting, and immediate heat layered my face in its blanket as we stopped.
21:29
. Atop the mountain I had pondered the number of monsters for hours, and even though the mass was out of sight the huge blob was still burned into my eyes. At first the dynamite bundled in my bags had been intended for obstacle clearing. Sometimes hours could be saved on these trips by simply blowing an old boulder or two out of the way, especially when traveling by horse cart. However now the brown sticks of explosives floated around my head with another purpose in mind. What if I set up charges at expanding distances, and then blew them to lead away the horde? I doubt it would work on all of them, but at the very least it may succeed in thinning out the crowd. The satchel’s flap fluttered carelessly while I rifled through its contents. Sixteen tubes of nitroglycerin stared at me from their home aside the horse, and after double counting the small number I covered them back up. It seemed silly to secure them with a tiny button, but keeping them out of sight was definitely the way to go for reserving sanity. One would be loud enough at each spaced location, and the longer I thought about it the more likely it became my solution. After the large group was scared or lured away I could work my way back around the mesa to the far side of the prison and clean up any stragglers. The blob of them had been situated primarily on one end anyway and the only downside was that approach angle remained un-scouted from my original spot. Just as long as no surprises lurked in the shadowy space secluded behind the jail. Wisdom told me I knew better than to count on it being that easy, but I retorted that most of the monsters are dumb anyway, and the cute tower sniper will be there to help. Distract them with explosives, circle back around the far side, kill the stragglers, and then save the girl. Seems a good plan as any.
21:29
. It took me several hours to get far enough way from the buildings I felt safe enough to plant the first charge. In my immense brilliance I had forgotten dynamite can’t run on a timer, and so I was going to be forced to set them off manually one at a time. The idea was to blow the charge within earshot of the crawlies before hightailing it on the horse for a mile or so. Initially they would chase after the noise, and after spotting my horse hopefully follow me for a short distance. Experience told me that they would follow for a short while before growing bored and recollecting for some time. It usually took a few hours to a day for them to regroup, and then I could hopefully repeat the experiment. Sixteen of them should be more then enough for what I had in mind, and if things went right it should only take a few of them to make enough room I feel safe returning. I had not spaced the odd moments from last night, but maybe the one singing will be sad to stay alone when all his nasty friends start chasing the booms. Plus, I sort of want it to start chasing me on the off chance I get to blow its stupid skull apart for keeping me up all night. If nothing else made the redhead happy maybe at the very least killing a loud one will win her favor. One night listening to its stupid cries had me red eyed and upset, months or years would drive me insane. I rumbled another laugh out before kneeling into rough sand. My fingertips shook with a nervousness at holding powerful explosive, and I quickly wrapped the long fuze into the bundle I brought with me to secure them as one. After burying it halfway down and upright I climbed atop Cookie before beginning the lengthy process of unraveling fuse.
21:29
. Another passing of precious time later and I was far enough back that the little rod of dynamite was nowhere to be seen. A reflective wire ran through the dirt out of the horizon and into my hand where it was secured to a box. Out the top stuck a small plunger, and I clutched the device in both my hands with visible uncertainty. Each breath I drew was increasingly larger than the last, and every time my body would tense to start the detonation I would immediately back out. What if I had missed a special one among the crowd of them, and it somehow sprinted with cheetah like intensity across this field before ripping me apart. Would I get lucky and find death quickly, or would it drag it out and make me hurt? When people get drug away at nighttime sometimes their screams are quickly halted by a crunch, but other times their wails go on night after night for days. Nobody has ever humored me on the topic of conversation when brought up, but I always wonder what the purpose of it all is. Does one of them out there do something to people that changes them, or are the fucking things dragging it out with specific intention of torture? What parts of the human remain locked away in them? Are they all that cruel? Cookie knew I was hesitating, because she had stopped to crane her head around at me once more. Her smart eyes glanced between the detonator and my face, and her curled lip was the same look she made right before a fit. “I’m nervous too Cookie. Let’s just get on with it.” Her long face kept staring at mine, and my mouth opened again, “It’s going to be loud.” That seemed to do it for her and finally I was left alone once more. Another shuddering gasp of air was sucked through my lungs, and right before pressing the lever a final silly thought blew through my head. What if I get ripped to shreds while she is looking down me through her scope? Would she pity my attempt, or just laugh at me for being a fool?
21:29
. The dirt coned out into the air with an impressive flourish of earth. The pillar of angry gravel flew upward before billowing out into a draping curtain of fine dust. Shortly after a blast of sound and wind rattled my body with an ear splitting impact. Cookie stumbled in surprise, and I had to grab onto my hat with one hand as she rose upward to scream in fear. I could tell by the way her body vibrated against me that she was whinnying, but my ears only filled my skull with a ringing whine. Bits of rock and ground fell around us now, and occasionally they would clatter off my head and shoulders before silently falling once more. My head snapped left back toward the prison, and a momentary glint of light filled me with resolve. Not only had she heard my initial attempt to save her, but now she was watching as I regained control of my horse. Once cookie’s hooves collided back to the ground, I was allowed a still glance at the horizon. A warbling blob of angry evil was shimmering its way across the desert, and a giant plume of dust was growing behind them. Not only had the idea worked, but it had succeeded to full effect. Even though my view of them was hazy it appears the entire horde of motherfuckers was currently barreling in on my current location. Since this might kill me I allowed myself a moment of flourish by tipping my hat toward the glinting rifle scope. After that I whipped reigns into Cookies neck and soon we were thundering off away from the prison. Adrenaline spiked my veins with its hot drug, and I was allowed several seconds of badass confidence before nature put me in my place. Form behind came an earsplitting scream. An impossibly loud noise for the distance still remaining from me to the horde. It was disjointed and wrong, but recognizable as a mocking noise form the throat of last nights singing monster. “Kill him!” It screamed, and the noise froze ice to my face in the from of pure terror. Did that thing just issue a fucking command?
21:29
@killahxkylie
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Briar Campbell BOT 11-Aug-23 03:43 PM
Once I had forced myself out of the old leather chair I made my way back down inside to find something to scrounge up for lunch. I shuffled through the food that I had left as my mind continued its barrage of thoughts. My hands seemed to move of their own accord to put the stale remains together. I couldn’t shake the image of the strange man sitting atop that mesa out of my mind. Why in the hell were you there? That was the one thought that I could not get out of my head no matter how hard I tried, it just kept tumbling around in my skull and I was sure by the time it was done it would be shiny smooth. I figured that if you wanted to kill me you would have brought a long gun and done it already but what would be the reason to just.. Observe? There wasn’t anything that interesting here as far as I was concerned. Was the rest of the world not exactly the same? I knew the likelihood of every place being this heavily populated with the zombies was unlikely, even just the areas I could see through my scope didn’t hold that many of the creatures. It left me to once again wonder what made the prison so special, once everyone but me was dead there was nothing left here to sustain them. How did they manage to keep going with no food? The thought made my brows pinch as I finished putting my lunch together and took my first bite. Mac and cheese with no milk and no butter definitely did not taste anything like it used to. Still, at least I had the ability to boil water, no matter how stale the pasta was it was still better than starving to death. Being alone and unable to get anything else had taught me quickly how to stay grateful for what I had. .
15:43
I cozied up in my cell, if you could call it cozy, and spooned another bite into my mouth. “What do you think he was doing here Karen?” I asked one of the mindless creatures wandering back and forth with its mouth agape. The thought that its dead rotten tongue must be so dry from walking around like that for years might have made me lose my appetite awhile ago but now it just made me laugh. “Surprised that nasty thing hasn’t just fallen off yet old friend.” I mused around a mouthful of artificial orange. How old even were you Karen? Did the undead still get older or were they permanently stuck at whatever age they were when they got infected? Would you still like those tattered clothes if your mind worked? What had you looked like before the virus made you rot? I had a journal full of drawings of the few that seemed to wander the most aimlessly, they walked back and forth day in and day out in the same small space. I tried to make them how I thought they used to look in some of them. The other pages were full of different types of zombies and the different traits they seemed to have. .
15:43
So far I had the wanderers, they didn’t seem to do much of anything but do just that, wander. They didn’t have any special abilities as far as I could tell and they didn’t seem to have any actual goals in mind. Then there were the singers/screamers. They seemed to have more intelligence than the wanderers and could still vocalize much louder than any of the others could. At least that I had seen in my area. The last one that I had was the page for the runners. They were fast and from what I had seen that day they could easily scale walls. They were built for chasing and killing and they were by far the ones that terrified me the most. One of them being capable of having a conversation would have been nice but apparently ’beggars can’t be choosers.’ What I would give to be able to hear my parents' voices nagging at me right now. A heavy sigh filled my space and just as I was about to take another bite I heard a noise so loud it had me ducking and covering my head. “FUCK!” The precious bowl of food clattered to the floor, quickly forgotten when I thought the entire jail was about to come down on top of me. .
15:43
A few moments passed and when I realized I wasn’t buried under a pile of cement and brick I just barely picked my head up to look through the thick metal bars. They’re...leaving? I picked my head up the rest of the way watching the ones that were inside quickly filter out into the heat of the desert. Shaky knees and trembling hands managed to get me standing back up to go investigate, I hadn’t even heard something so loud and I knew it had to have been a pretty major explosion to have produced such a bang. I hope he’s okay. The thought was a flash that was gone as soon as it arrived as I climbed my way back up to that lookout. If anything it made more sense that the strange man from before had been the cause of the explosion. What the hell could he be blowing up out there? When I emerged from the top I was met with a sight that was both impressive and terrifying. Hundreds if not thousands of the walking corpses were making their way towards the huge plume of dust that still hung in the air. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before, even when they had first attacked I hadn’t seen them moving like that. .
15:43
I brought the rifle to my eye to peer through my scope, the shakiness in my fingers had grown so intense that it was quite the difficult task and after a few frustrating seconds I crouched down so that I could prop it on the old railing. There I was met with the somewhat fuzzy view of you on your horse getting pelted with dust and debris. I dropped my gun to clamor for that piece of glass I had tried to flash at you earlier and tried to find the sun's rays again. “Come on come on come on!” A blinding flash let me know I had succeeded in the task and that's when I heard it. A shrill scream of that singing bitch from the night before followed by an actual verbal command. ’Kill him!’ It was so loud that it was almost deafening and I had to stop myself from dropping the piece of glass. “She’s still here.” I dropped the glass and looked out towards that plume of dust where I knew you still were one more time before I grabbed my gun and ran in the direction of the noise. I have to kill it.
15:43
@bonghitsforfeds
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Lee Boone BOT 15-Aug-23 09:37 PM
It was impressive how fast I felt the control of this situation slip. When the loud one cried out, which just in itself is a terrifying thing, I damn near fell off Cookie. My startled jump just happened to be opposite her galloping stride, and the shift of mass sent me teetering over her side. My hand wrapped up in her reigns, and only three toes of my boot clung to shiny stirrup. I yelled a curse at her, but if it made any noise it was lost in the deafening trample of her gallop. A leather bit of my bandolier caught hold of a rock or stout stick and with a tearing snap it was ripped from my body. My shoulder bounced off a similar point of earth which jolted pain into angry flesh. Apparently the impact didn’t steal my ability to maneuver which was evident by how I yanked myself back atop Cookie. The loss of weight around my body told me all I needed to know. Most, if not all of my backup ammunition is now spilled on the ground behind me. For a stupid second I considered stopping to retrieve it, but a momentary glance backward told me that the horde was quicker than expected. It was difficult to tell whether or not the entire group was similarly gifted in speed, but a significant portion of them was closer than I cared for. I was out of better ideas at this point, so while the screaming beast continued to pull me forward I rustled to free more sticks of dynamite from saddle bags. You would think with how taught they are secured to horses it would be easy to rifle through them, but when in a full forward gallop the rise and fall of rear hips made it difficult. It was hard to ignore the closing distance of them while rummaging for explosive, but it seemed at this pace it would take them some time to catch me. Problem was that Cookie’s goddamn lungs would explode if she kept this up. Finally my fingers found those life saving cylinders.
21:37
. My legs gripped into the trampling creature while failing to get the brass lighter to strike. Hunched over in a horseshoes shape I whispered ‘motherfucks’ and ‘fuck yous’ into the piece of metal until it finally clicked to life. Panic was thorning into the mix, and my fingers trembled to spark fuze. So much joy kicked my ass when the string lit to life that it took me several seconds to realize I was holding a bomb. “Shit!” Cookie whined in return, and her loud breaths told me the gas was less than minute. With a throw to make my father proud the line of nitroglycerin spun lazily through the air until whiffing into dirt with a cute puff. At first I thought it had gone out, and was assuredly convinced of my level of screwed when the horde seemingly passed over the spot. That was until it was evident my judgement of its landing zone had been off. In my excuse it was hard to keep track of such things when trying to not get ripped to shreds. This detonation was different, and the destructive boy in me loved the sideways double cone to its deathly explosion. The clap and fireball were quick, and most of the odd shape was made up of dust rather than blaze. A considerable portion of the visible monsters disappeared into a red vapor, and meaty chunks of their bodies fell to the ground near the impact zone. It seemed to stun the nearby crawlies too because the hoards pace slowed. Using my knees to steer Cookie we began a lazy looping path back toward the prison. The slowing of their chase was enough that I felt safe risking it, and this also allowed the gallop to wane. Cookie was likely thankful for the break, but the outside of her eyes were still wide in fear. Mine were too, but I was too focussed on not blowing us up. Bombs really are powerful, and years of man’s obsession with them suddenly made more sense.
21:37
. I found it silly that even though each one of these bundles was designed for this purpose, I still felt the barter worth of them adding up in an invisible tally. Man really is cursed to bear the fiscal weight of every action even in the fucking apocalypse. I Frisbeed another length of the expensive stuff off toward the crowd. This one didn’t sit in the dust for near as long before leveling another chunk of them. From this angle it appeared the battle was being won, but I knew better from the scouting trip than to assume this. My observations were quickly rewarded with more pain when the corpse wall of those initial killed began to be trampled by scrambling replacements. The bastards really were relentless, and it was sad how much your audience was spurring me forward. It’s a rather good thing I didn’t know you had left to fight your own demons at this point, because that cheer leader feeling of your presence was powerful. Stupid cowboy tower princess filling my being with battle might. This must be what my fireside stories of knights droned on about. The stranger would have to slap me if I ever mentioned mentally comparing myself to her saving hero. I swore the screaming one was yelling something over the fight’s noise, but my ears felt cotton stuffed from the repeated detonations. All I could do was hope the temporary deafness would heal. At least it would save me the nightmare of listening to my own bones shatter when they killed me. Pay attention! Yelling at yourself is fun, and a mad grin ripped across my face as my body gifted me with more adrenaline. My plan B was to now keep them in a repeating retreating serpentine path until all my dynamite was expended. That was until things changed after the third stick blew a chunk of them down.
21:38
. Eerily the horde began to peel back onto itself, and the entire group of them migrated toward the Mesa and away from the prison. I almost hollered at them for being sore losers, but what happened next damn near filled my pants with piss. A big one was standing up from the dead pile. I say one but that is only due to the fact words cannot properly describe its design. Pulsing vein like pathways of sludgy death held the mass of its rising shape together. Melded fresh kill made up its outer pieces, and each one of the faces screamed in their own chant. Occasionally the chattering chorus of them would align to speak in unison, and the things they said were secrets only the dead should know. It was a maddening senseless creature of eldritch makeup, and it was nearly impossible to overcome the sensation to flee. Cookie felt it too and she was currently fighting my attempts to steer her toward it. I didn’t wish to directly charge it, but if I was going to have any chance of lobbing more of these boom rods at it we needed to get closer. Why as time went on did these hell spawn invent new ways to merge? It felt unfair that the other ones knew to leave us alone, and I hoped they somehow were not growing wise to my plan. Were they communicating without a visible or audible method? The theory that all of the monsters country wide were somehow talking via spores or unseen frequency was gut churning. Don’t be sick. Cookie finally agreed to peel off toward the stumbling thing. It was leaning forward into its own monstrous sprint. As I got closer it looked to only be three steer high, and it would make me feel better if not for the fact it was my problem. Cookie was slower than I needed her, and all I could hope is whatever you were dealing with was going better than this. My next suicide mission was dumb even for Lee standards, and my legacy required your survival so someone can stand witness for my death bout. @killahxkylie
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Briar Campbell BOT 20-Aug-23 03:08 PM
Making my way back into the building to try to hunt down the screaming siren of a zombie I felt my heart hammering so hard that it felt like it may burst out of my chest. Trembling fingers worked to reload my rifle and every time a bullet would slip and tinker across the ground my body dumped another dose of adrenaline into my blood. “Fucking bullets” I hissed to myself before I finally managed to finish reloading and made sure all I would need to do if I saw the thing was pull the trigger. I hadn’t been this afraid since the first month after the initial attack of the things and it was not a very welcomed feeling. Another loud explosion had me ducking for cover inside the building as dust shook free from the walls and fell down onto the ground. “Jesus christ he’s fucking insane.” I muttered to myself as I made my way into parts of the building I hadn’t been in since I couldn’t even remember when. I tried my best to follow the sound of the screaming but it seemed to be coming from every direction in a way that was incredibly disorientating. I made the mistake of rounding a corner too quickly before checking it adequately and came face to face with one of the slow moving ones. It was lucky that I was able to get a shot off quick enough before it decided to try to take a bite out of me. It would have been unfortunate for the stranger to put in enough effort to lure the horde away in what I could only assume was in an effort to get me out of here just for him to find me huddled in a corner with bulging veins trying not to turn into a mindless husk. .
15:08
Shaking the thought from my head I managed to keep moving, my entire body felt like it was buzzing from how much adrenaline had been dumped into it at this point and I knew I was going to crash hard later on. I don’t think I’ve ever been involved in this much action before, even when they had first arrived I was told to stay hidden and quiet while everyone else tried to fight them off. It was often difficult for me to not ponder whether or not it was the right choice to listen. I would be dead but at least I would be with my family still. “Stop it. Focus.” I was really going to have to stop talking to myself out loud so often if I was ever around people again. That was probably a habit that would get you looked at funny outside of this place. After what felt like much too long I finally figured out the right direction to head in and the screaming seemed to get louder and louder. Was I really going to be able to kill this thing? What if it was some sort of super juiced up one that took more than one bullet to the brain to take down? I swallowed the thick self doubt and kept pushing forward. .
15:09
By the time I got to where the thing was the shrill sound of its scream was almost deafening. It hadn’t sensed me yet, probably because it couldn’t hear me over itself but a few others that were still hanging around it had. I had managed to get myself up onto a ledge so I could climb up higher and get a better vantage point when one of them latched onto my foot. My blood ran cold and the effort it took not to scream was something I didn't even know I possessed. With a sharp kick I managed to get it off of me and it landed on the ground with a rather unceremonious thud. It was then that I noticed the ear piercing noise that seemed to be driving the horde had stopped. Please for the love of god tell me it didn’t notice me. I pulled myself up one more level before I peered through my scope to get a better look at the thing was looking around as if searching for something. That something was me and I really hoped it didn’t have enough brain power to look up. As if it read my mind its eyes shot up to where I was perched and before I could even think I was pulling the trigger. A chunk of face and brains went flying but it still remained upright somehow. “Fuck!” I let off another shot and then another until I had unloaded every bullet into the gargling mass and it finally fell to the ground. .
15:09
Collapsing to the ground with relief I forced myself to stay painfully still and listen. I don’t know what I was listening for, perhaps for one of the other ones to start screaming in its place but all I heard was the usual groans and clicks of the undead. “Maybe it worked.” After managing to regain some composure I once again reloaded my weapon and climbed my way back down to the ground. There was so much tension in the air that it felt thick as I made my way through the maze of a prison back up to the lookout so I could see how the stranger was fairing. The explosions seemed to have stopped at some point and a part of me was terrified that the man on the horse had perished in his fight against the massive blob that he had attracted with them. "Please be alive" I muttered to myself as I pushed open the door and stepped back out into the dusty sunlight. @bonghitsforfeds
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Lee Boone BOT 05-Sep-23 09:42 PM
I’ve been known in certain circles for having an uncouth way of handling certain endeavors. Back before everything got funny there was a bank robbery that took place in my hometown. Okay, calling the building a bank or the place a town were both wild exaggerations. Bud’s was a deposit holding point midway between a northern mining colony and a deep south bank route. The name may sound like a restaurant, but Bud’s was just four walls and a shit load of guards. Anyway, long story short one night it got held up by a bunch of escaped convicts who thought of using the cash to break for Mexico. For hours the Sheriff droned on about talking them down. Two old boys from the bar and I decided to walk past the three officers and gun down the outlaws inside. One of us almost got the rope for it, but luckily the town got word of our heroics and intervened. The feeling of adrenaline doused dread spreading my chest is very similar to how I felt rushing the bank that day. Clutched in my fist was a fuse lit stick of dynamite, and a hundred yards my twelve o’ clock was a building sized hunk of rotting flesh coming to murder me. Every horse’s hair of length that disappeared form the fuse did so with my acute awareness. How awfully embarrassing would it be for me to cook this bundle too long and blow myself into a misty pile of nothing? Would this monster homogenize with my corpse and force me to live in it’s head forever? Gross malice brewed within me at the thought of becoming one of them. Fuck that, I’d rather eat a bullet.
21:42
. It’s a real shame you weren’t around for the throw. Propelled forward by the momentum of my horse and tossed with the rage of a cornered man that stick of dynamite sailed like a holy hand grenade. Hardly tumbling, it spun width ways like a bullet until it got within a few feet of the thing’s head. I only caught the first half of its flight as I immediately shifted Cookie’s heading right to make for distance. Every thundering step of her hooves beneath me mounded more anxiety upon my skull. What if I had missed? What if the stupid thing doesn’t die? My answers were quickly supplied to me via the ear splitting detonation of much too close dynamite. Have you ever burped while riding a horse? Sometimes while falling downward from a trot your gut will lurch like from a soft tumble. If you hiccup during that your stomach will roll with a weighted twist of nausea. When the gathered sticks of explosive detonated it rocked my stomach with a similar feeling. Except this time the sensation was cranked to ten, and it was accompanied by a clap of pain in my head. Cookie whinnied in anger, and her course faltered just enough for me to lose proper grip. Our center of mass went opposite our momentum, and the twirly weightlessness twisted my core the other direction. The only reason I managed to stay mounted was years of saddle time, and a brand new pair of stirrups which provided good boot grip.
21:42
. We slid to a halt, and I did my best to ignore the fact the maneuver had not been commanded. Both Cookie and I’s heads turned toward the mess where the beast had once stood. Both of its ‘legs’ had fallen opposite each other like felled trees, and everything torso up had been reconfigured into a wide gore cloud. Bits of it rained down with meaty thumps, and the air was charged with an odor of rot. My chest still flashed with hot injections of survivor’s endorphin, and it was not lost on me that my lack of perishing was pure luck. All of the sticks had detonated at different intervals, and had my hail marry throw not connected who knows what would have happened. It was eerily quiet in the dust bowl with no screaming horde nearby. The mass of them had failed to return, and if my intuition was to be believed the group of dead were likely behind the Mesa. They had made good time, but no doubt will return this evening. The last thing I wanted to do was get stuck in the prison like the stranger had. Saddling up I made quick course for the gates while trying to ignore a powerful headache growing behind my eyes. If she’s dead I am burning this old shit heap down.
21:42
@killahxkylie
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Briar Campbell BOT 06-Sep-23 03:13 PM
It was much more difficult than it should have been to find a steady grip on my rifle after everything that had just happened, my fingers had a shake to them that was honestly pissing me off as I tried to focus on the stranger who for some odd reason started a war with zombies to try to save me, or at least I think that’s what he wants to do. If he tries anything funny he’s going to end up with a bullet between his eyes. That thought made me huff half a laugh to myself but it was cut short by the sigh of the giant mass of dead flesh blown apart in the sand. "The crazy son of a bitch did it." I was both impressed and mildly terrified because clearly this guy had a couple screws loose to be brave enough to face off with it. I followed the trail of dust with my scope until I finally had eyes on the man and his horse again and I'll admit I was happy to see them both still alive, especially the horse. Not that I wasn't happy the man was also alive but it had been such a long time since I've seen a creature that was still alive and so majestic looking. I found myself wondering more often than I'd like to admit if any of our horses made it. I remember I had pleaded with my father not to do it but when the horde made its way into the prison walls he cut them all loose to give them a better chance. Sometimes I wonder why we didn't ride away with them, perhaps it was because they didn't want to leave anyone behind. Lot of good that did them because here I was and they were certainly nowhere to be found. Briefly I wondered if any of them had ended up turning and were still wandering the halls but I quickly shook the thought away. "Focus idiot." .
15:13
I had spaced out long enough for the stranger to start riding again and had to work to get my sites back on him. "Holy shit he's coming this way." I don't know why but I think a small part of me had expected that you would just get rid of the zombies and then leave me to fend for myself, after all you didn't know me at all as far as we were concerned we were nothing but strangers who happened to see each other, you didn't owe me anything. I slung the rifle over my shoulder and made my way back inside to head towards the gates. Honestly I didn't even know if I remembered how to get to that side of the prison but I was about to find out. It took me longer than I'd like to admit to make my way through the winding and destroyed hallways, having to turn back more than once, but I finally made my way to the front gates and pushed open the large door to step outside. How long has it even been since I've been outside on the ground floor? Heavy footfalls could be heard approaching and I found myself feeling excited for the first time in a long time and it occured to me then, I really want to get out of this place. @bonghitsforfeds
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Lee Boone BOT 06-Sep-23 05:14 PM
Halfway to the prison’s entrance I realized there was no reason to be hurrying. Well, unless the horde decides to change course and tear our flesh like wet paper. Do they enjoy what they eat? Leaning backward and with a gentle tug the tired beast slowed to a trot. At first our course wavered out into a gentle serpentine as the momentum was shed. Cookie’s nostrils flared wide as she huffed for fresh air, and for a brief moment I actually felt bad for being atop her. Bending my back to rub at her neck burned something fierce, and already the pain radiating in my shoulder screamed ‘permanent injury.’ In my best comforting voice, “There there big gal’. Sorry for running you so ragged.” Her only response was more frustrated gasping, and at this point I probably earned being thrown to the dirt. Thankfully the respectful creature chose not to, and thus by the time we arrived at the gate we had slowed to a lazy trot. From hanging sign to actual front door was roughly fifty yards. A sharp yell would have cleared the distance, but anything else would have fallen silent on either end. About this much space was between you and I when the heavy metal doors parted with a whining creak. They had opened in my peripheral as my main focus had been trained on a writhing corpse a short run to my right. At first I had assumed it a corpse anyway, and upon further inspection appeared to be just an arm crawling about. Its path was haphazard at best, but I couldn’t recall ever seeing a limb move around on its own. We are so perfectly fucked.
17:15
. Did she have to be pretty? Her look was too stoic to be translated, but the long gun spoke in its place. Fuck around and get shot were rules I could follow with no quarrel of my own. Riding up on a person always felt oddly powerful, but no ego or bravado was present. Mostly all I felt was pain, but underneath that was a pressing anxiety to leave as soon as possible. Cookie’s eyes never left your form, and her judgmental gaze probably carried more wisdom than my own. It made a good topic of discussion however, and my chapped lips parted for a greeting, “Howdy!” Casual and efficient, and also a long time favorite. The horse huffed her own greeting, and while dismounting I patted at her strong neck. “Cookie and I have been riding around for years now and she still doesn’t trust me worth a damn.” I could feel the beasts betrayed piercing gaze. ‘How dare you use me as a soft opening you bastard.’ She didn’t have to say the words for me to hear them. Even after the pleasant greeting a charged air of distrust still clung to my skin. Why was this stranger looking at me like I was the first persons she had seen in years? Tragically the truth of this was lost on me, but had I known it probably would have just made the introduction even more awkward. Looking around the yard it appeared you had done plenty of work yourself, and every part of me hoped the wailing bastard was sprawled dead out here somewhere too. “No offense, but your yard kind of smells like a dug up graveyard.” It was no lie either, and just standing here had my eyes watering in response to pure rot.
17:15
. Oh fuck, what if this entire thing had been on purpose and the critters were a natural defensive layer? The panic subsided when I reassured myself your look said apprehensive and not murderous. Standing out here all day was definitely not my plan, so I did the next worst thing a man can do other than loiter: attempt confidence. There was no part of me that operated with desire, and the only motivation to my pressing of our interaction was getting paid for clearing this location. There was no bounty for doing it. If the inside of the cleared space didn’t have something worth selling then all of this had been for nothing. Don’t get me wrong I like to fantasize about rescuing a cutie in the tower too, but no part of me was fooled into thinking our interaction went beyond bringing you to town. Clearing the final distance between us had taken less time than I desired, and like an awkward fool I offered you an outstretched hand, “Lee Boone, pleasure to meet you. May I come inside and ransack your home please?"
17:15
@killahxkylie
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Briar Campbell BOT 06-Sep-23 05:41 PM
When the stranger approached on his horse I didn't know how to react. It had been so long since I'd been in the presence of another human that I genuinely didn't know how I was supposed to. I was also still skeptical of the whole thing because what kind of man is just wandering through the desert and decides to take on an entire horde of undead monsters? I took a couple steps out of the door towards the man and the horse, keeping one hand firmly on the strap to my rifle, one wrong move and I'd be able to blow the guy's head off, plus then I'd have a horse. What if I did it anyway just to take the horse? The thought was but a flicker in my mind before I realized that would be rude payback for drawing the creatures away. 'Howdy.' I could feel my one brow cock at the way the man spoke as if we were already acquainted, his mannerisms reminded me of my dad and that in itself was strange. Maybe it's just a man thing. Should I take the horse's advice? It seemed foolish to admit a creature you'd been around for that long still didn't trust you and if I was a dog you'd be able to see my hackles rising in suspicion. "Don't know if you realized but it sort of is a fucking graveyard." It was sort of amusing how the smell was affecting you so strongly, I had gotten used to it a long time ago and it honestly smelled like perfectly fresh air to me at this point. "You should be nicer about it, half my family is buried out here." To be fair they were the ones that died before the horde but still. Respect the dead asshole. .
17:41
When you started to move closer it caught me so off guard that I readied my gun, finger resting right alongside the trigger ready to move to pull it in a millisecond if I needed to. Instead of doing something threatening you outstretched your hand and finally gave me a name to go with the face. I didn't know what the hell you expected me to do with your hand so I just looked at it and then lowered my weapon. "Briar. Briar Campbell. Just what is it that you're looking to find? Because I can tell you now there ain't shit in there but creatures and stale food Lee." I was sure there was plenty of annoyance in my tone but what kind of person asks to ransack someone else's home? Was I that out of touch with humanity that I just didn't realize this was how things worked? With an annoyed huff I led you back through the double doors and shut them behind us. "Don't try anything funny or I'll put a bullet in you and take your horse." Finding my way back through the winding halls was easier this time and every so often I would turn around to make sure you were still following. "I wouldn't go that way if I were you." I said when I saw you eyeing a hallway that looked a bit more put together than most. "Full of crawlers. They're faster than the others." That seemed to convince you and eventually we made it back to the small area I called my actual home and I quickly got us two cups of water. "Here. It's hot today, you must be thirsty and tired." @bonghitsforfeds
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Lee Boone BOT 06-Sep-23 07:59 PM
My greeting was picked apart like a corpse full of maggots. Their feasting was only accelerated by your observation that family was buried out here.This lady does know the dead can get up right? I desperately wanted to make a joke about how there is a slim chance that some of your dead friends may have just gotten blown to pieces. When you flagged me down with the mirror the last thing I had expected was such a rude greeting. Maybe she’s just a hard ass? My opinion was strengthened when you spat my name out like it was made of acid. I can understand being standoffish, but had anyone taught you an ounce of manners? For a moment I considered saddling Cookie up and just riding away. Sadly it wasn’t even your presence that kept me here, but instead a fistful of sunken cost fallacy. You didn’t even wait for me to answer your question before turning to storm inside, and while standing out front like a lost puppy I just barked, “I don’t know, some thanks maybe?” Either my words didn’t reach you, or you just didn’t care to respond. Our next exchanging was a threat on my life. Historic temper declared that it’d be easier to teach you respect now rather than later, but wisdom said that you were likely a survivor of trauma. The deeper we got inside this place the more its design to not allow escape became obvious. Some may have found the pressuring blanket a comfort, but I just felt past incarceration’s haunting presence. Would you still trust me if I informed you this wasn't my first time inside a jail? We passed a hallway whose end looked barricaded. A pristine antique chair was propped against a gorgeous mahogany door. Had that been the Warden’s personal quarters? You must have read my mind because next was a warning to stay away. The fuck is a crawler? All your heads up had done was secured that place as my first destination. Your own words had shared this building as empty, so if any loot was going to be juicy it’d likely live down the hell hallway.
19:59
. My ‘all business’ persona failed the moment we reached your personal quarters. Being inside someone’s bedroom always filled me with a peculiar sense of desire. A hidden tinge of body odor was hanging inside here, and some would blame pheromones for what bubbled in my gut. “Thanks.” Pleasantries had grown short now that I had you pegged as a bit of an ass. However my allure for you didn’t totally snuff out once cold water was draining down my throat. It hadn’t been my intention, but the last few mouthfuls did go down with a gulp. A sudden exhaustion filled my body after finishing the cup, and the floor looked mighty comfortable for a nap. “I wasn’t tired until you said something about it.” Stupidly my mouth split into a grin at my own joke. A cool draft wafted my face, and I used the back of my hand to wipe a line of water from it.
19:59
. What next? The aforementioned death zone seemed worthy of investigation, but other than that this entire endeavor had been a bust. We had also passed signs of others who had lived here, and a small picture of what may have happened began to form. I doubt you wanted any Lee therapy though, and the only thing like that I had ever been good at was making people laugh. Guess how that had gone with you? Minutes ago you had threatened to kill me for my horse, perhaps I should do the same for your fucking bed? “Briar, I think I am in pain, and it has me in a rather poor mood.” Technically it wasn’t a lie as my head did pound with an awful ache. Rolling my shoulder to check for pain from the impact was a mistake as it only clicked with a concerning sound. “Do you have a place I can rest?” Awkwardly it felt like flirting, and I rambled out another clarifying statement, “I have a cot with Cookie, and I would prefer to bring her inside.” I’d never forgive myself if something got a hold of her, and your previous wish to steal her still had me slightly nervous. “I have fresh apples in my pack.” Did I just attempt to entice a fully grown woman with fruit like she was a crash landed pirate?
19:59
@killahxkylie
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Briar Campbell BOT 06-Sep-23 08:22 PM
Blank blinking eyes met your comment about not being tired until I said it, it didn't make any sense to me seeing everything you had just done but still I took your glass to fill it one more time. There was this awkward tension between us and I really didn't like it. Maybe this is just what happens when you haven't had human interaction in…. How many years has it even been? I screwed my face up trying to think as I finished my own glass of water. Truth be told I was feeling my own exhaustion purely from the adrenaline rush wearing off. Your mention of pain had me shuffling through a few old dusty bags until I pulled out a bottle of pills. I shook it softly until two white circles plopped into my palm and then held them up for you. "These will help the pain, can't imagine your head feels very good after all of those explosions." I pressed the pills into your hand and then put the old bags back together and into their right place. This place was a disaster and the least I could do was keep my own things tidy. My attention wasn't drawn back all the way until you mentioned fresh apples. How long has it been since I had fresh fruit? Fresh anything really. My mouth was watering at the thought of the crisp juicy fruit on my tongue and it actually made me smile. "I haven't had an apple in years. There's plenty of room for Cookie to come inside and you can lay your cot out wherever you want." .
20:22
Of course if you tried to set it up somewhere that was unsafe I would let you know but truth be told the only places I knew were secure for sure was the small kitchen and my own cell. I wandered back through the meandering hallways and through the double doors back to cookie who looked less than impressed with being left alone as long as she was. Funny how expressive an animal's eyes can be. I wasn't exactly versed in small talk but I felt this pressing need to say something. "Hey thanks for clearing them out. I never said that. Sorry." I mean nobody could blame me for not being immediately friendly in this environment right? Leading the horse back through the halls had the click clacking of hooves echoing off the stone walls and the rhythm of it was soothing in a strange way. "This spot should be safe for her." It wasn't far from my own space, just a few cells down and one of the few areas that would be big enough that she could move a bit and lay down if she wanted to. I wanted to ask you for the apple but I was growing more and more tired by the minute and decided to just wait until later. A nap certainly wouldn't hurt. "There aren't too many clear areas here but this one and my cell are safe. I know that much. You can set up wherever you want." @bonghitsforfeds
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Lee Boone BOT 06-Sep-23 09:46 PM
Whatever previous opinion had been formed of you definitely took a forking turn upon being offered pain medication. The quality of being a rude motherfucker can be overlooked when you give drugs away for free. I hardly felt the pill go down my neck with how quickly the water was quaffed. Swallowing so much liquid formed a heavy slosh in my gut, and seconds after meeting you my gluttony had already been revealed. I always did get scolded for eating too fast. Although all these years later and I still had some whiny excuse for why it was okay this time. Was this water really cold or did your smile just make me dizzy? Holy shit, maybe I am lonely. Perhaps to the common man wandering around slaughtering the dead would obviously be a lonesome lifestyle, but to me the entire thing was just a matter of survival. Nowadays there wasn’t much time to stop and think about why or how you hurt. If you stop, you die. Most people just kept their head down while leaning forward into every decision they made. Of course now wasn’t the first time a pretty glint of teeth had sent me reeling, but this was the first instance in many years where it felt personal. I knew better than to mistake the warm smile of a bartender as anything more than business. Maybe all of this had been worth it. My emotions were still steady that nothing would happen between us, but I’d be lying to claim that smile wouldn’t serve as ammunition for fantasy.
21:46
. Next you offered a place for Cookie, and finally the hard shell you had awkwardly formed around us chipped just enough for light to peek through. Hopefully you knew that where horses went so did piles of shit, although the beast had definitely earned a night inside. On the way back to where she stood waiting I did my best to memorize every decent firing line. A few good hallways near the front served as decent killing lanes, and holes in the ceiling betrayed how I wasn’t the first one to think this. Had the building been sieged by people or the freaks? The very walls seemed to seep sadness, and it was obvious it made you tense with how stern your shoulders were. Although I had just met you and it is possible you just held a lot of stress in your upper body. Over analyzing body language was my job as a guard, and thus it was impossible to turn the skill off. My eyes dipped to your ass more than once. In fact I had been so enamored by the supple show that when the front door flung open Cookie seemed to glare at me with a knowing look. C’mon, is it rude to take glances when no one knows? Her look implied that God saw, and if I was brave enough to call her a bitch I would. Then again you’d probably be more cautious of her if I told you how she likes to open doors for fun. “Well, I’ll be damned you do say thank you.” That was all the acknowledgment you were going to get out of me. If you were good at throwing jest around then we may end up being friends. Up until the very moment you grow bored of my company and run off with someone else. Damn, I am over worked if we just met and already you were getting the projected ex treatment. An old face’s words trotted through my head, ‘You move too fast Lee.’ Cookie’s eyes followed me the entire time I approached, and she even made me reach twice for her harness before finally giving in to being led. She wanted an apology, but I also wanted a dumb mule not a telepathic cunt.
21:46
. Fuck, it’s hot in here. You’d think being inside would dampen the heat, but all it seemed to do was cook us like fresh meat on a skillet. Did you really live your whole life like this? A long abandoned imagination danced with the fantasy of how much you must sweat. It didn’t help when you offered me the ability to sleep anywhere I wanted. How could I possibly spin this to my success? Immediately I felt foolish for lusting after a fresh face, and I had to turn mine away to hide an embarrassing blush. The next thing I said hurt worse than pulling concertina wire from a fresh wound, “It’s probably better if I sleep in here. I have a bad habit of screaming through nightmares.” At least that much was true. The horse may be a bitch, but every time I had a night terror episode she was there to stare me back to sleep. Most wouldn’t find the unblinking gaze a cozy thing, but when you got to know the beast it made more sense.
21:46
. While tying her off to a solid jail cell pole your hovering reminded me of our past deal. “Oh shit!” That was all you got for discussion before I turned to rummage through a saddle bag. Within were a few wax wrapped ripe apples, and the rustle of paper already had the horse craning her head for a snack. “Even though I have already offered one of these to you, it may still be necessary to ask Cookie for one.” The creature turned her gaze toward you as if to suggest the idea was complete nonsense. Not long after she dropped her head in reluctant capitulation. Perhaps she was just tired and didn’t care, or maybe she liked the prospect of favoriting a new person. Told you she was pretty. Your face lit up like I had just tossed you a solid gold bullion when the apple hit your hands. “Those stupid things cost more than the dynamite.” Immediately I felt cruel for attaching a monetary value to your snack, but all I had originally intended was for it to amplify the experience. Watching you chew did naughty things to this tired cowboys brain. It also solidified the fact I was going to sneak around your cot tonight and steal a souvenir.
21:46
@killahxkylie
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Briar Campbell BOT 07-Sep-23 08:43 AM
Nightmares were something that I was all too familiar with so I gave a small nod in agreement. Truth be told I didn’t care where you stayed as long as it was out of the way of the living dead. I had seen way too many people torn apart for one lifetime and I didn’t need to add your name to the list. I already have a way to sleep through screaming so that part of it didn’t bother me at all. What plagued your sleep at night? If you were crazy enough to face off with that giant blob I can only imagine what other horrors you’d seen. “No worries. I’ve slept through worse.” I was still lingering near the cell where you were tying off Cookie, not so much to remain in your company but because it was nice being around such a pretty creature. I had all but forgotten what it was like to be around anything that was still truly alive and it was a refreshing feeling. For the first time in a long time I wasn’t completely dreading going to sleep at night. It helped that you were clearly more than capable of defending yourself so if something did happen somehow at least I would have competent help in fighting the monsters off. “Thanks Cookie.. And thank you too Lee.” I tried to tamp my excitement over having the fruit in my hand. I couldn't even remember the last time I had felt one. The waxy texture of the skin under my fingers was better than solid gold. “I haven’t had money in a long time, Lee. I don’t know anything about it. But thank you, I assume it must be worth a lot out there.” .
08:43
I briefly considered wiping the fruit off with my shirt but realized upon looking down that it was likely more dirty than the apple itself. My teeth sank into the flesh of the fruit with a delicious crunch and the way the juice seemed to fill my mouth was borderline euphoric. So this is what fresh food is like? I really need to get out of this dusty old shit hole if things like this are still out there, I don’t care what I need to do to get them I need more. A bit of the juice dripped its way down my hand and I licked it up like a gluttonous monster. This is probably one of the best days of my life and it's all because of this apple. I understand now why Eve supposedly ate the forbidden fruit. Bite after bite it didn’t feel any less glorious devouring the fruit and when it was gone I felt myself deflate. “That was one of the best things I’ve ever tasted.” I flashed a small smile your way. “I’m just a few cells down if you need me.” With that I made my way back to my own makeshift bed and peeled off my dirty clothes from the day. It didn’t really occur to me that being topless and clad in only panties was an abnormal thing to do but it was sweltering in here and I wasn’t about to drench my clothes in sweat while sleeping. I got myself comfy facing the wall of bars instead of you but I couldn’t manage to drift to sleep. Eventually I turned over so I could look at the horse again, there was just something calming about her presence that I couldn’t explain. My father always did say they were spiritual animals and maybe this is what he meant. It didn’t take long after focusing on her heavy breaths for me to be drifting off to sleep and it was the first night in forever that I hadn’t done so with a bunch of rolled up cotton in my ears. @bonghitsforfeds
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Lee Boone BOT 07-Sep-23 01:15 PM
My only mistake thus far had been trusting my initial opinion of you. One of my most common lies was that I am good with people. The truth is I’m good at fooling people. It wasn’t like I hated company or anything like that, but I did have a particular knack for assuming the worst in others. Your thanks aimed at both Cookie and I dispelled the rest of whatever disdain had been held. Don’t get it wrong I had no feelings of respect, but at the very least it didn’t fill me with nerves to turn my back on you anymore. Actually you had thanked me twice, but I quickly forgot about it when you gave me a glistening smile. In some far away reality a more confident Lee got to taste that flavor off your face. After that you left me to my own devices. Wait, had you smirked at me because I had been standing here speechless like an idiot? “Alrighty!” The much too loud word echoed back in my face in its attempt to follow you around the corner. Man, why do all the pretty ladies always leave you in the jail cell? Would you find it funny if I said I needed you right now? Perhaps I would be better off just sneaking away later and taking care of myself somewhere private. Not to mention that spilling myself in a corner is a free guaranteed dose of sleepy haze. We had just met and already I was self prescribing masturbation to stop racing thoughts, isn’t this stuff supposed to leave you alone in your twenties? Am I cursed to be horny forever? Swiveling my head away from where you had disappeared down the hallway just rewarded me with a disappointed Cookie glare. “What?” After hissing the single syllable question she turned her head way with a huff. This is what I get for getting people nice things.
13:15
. My next half hour was spent setting up a space to sleep. Only one corner of the space was solid wall, and the rest of them were just adjoining grates all the way to the block’s end. This room must have been a building support or something, and I could find no other conclusion for the structural hiccup. I ended up placing the cot up against that wall. Not only would it provide me a clear shot of any intruders, but it also kept me out of your direct line of sight. Sleeping in front of others was rather exposing after so many nights alone. It took me much longer to settle in than normal, and typically I never actually fell asleep until the sun was down anyway. By the time my gun was cleaned, boots were off, horse was brushed, and all other evening chores were done the sun had set completely. Luckily moonlight cast a nice glow about the dust bowl, and as long you were near a window it was easy to navigate. Cookie had long ago fallen asleep. Occasionally her tail would flick in a dreamy twitch. It was so quiet tonight after the evening of pure screaming, and if it wasn’t for wind and beastly breath it likely would have made everything eerie as hell. Luckily we were just surrounded by your dead relatives and a ton of gored pulp. Brilliant.
13:16
. The worst feeling is when your whole body begs for sleep but can’t seem to find it. Prison ceiling is designed to be boring, and whomever had made this one did an excellent job of crafting it in perfect disinterest. After an hour or so of tossing and turning I quietly paced about the cell. For the first year Cookie hated my habit of restless movement, but by now she slept through it like a sack of bricks. All I could think to do was ponder tomorrow’s plan. That only kept me focussed for a few seconds though because the entire agenda consisted of: Get on horse, ride way from prison. Jail is boring. Right before lying down my peripheral caught sight of your resting spot several cells over. Originally I had assumed you laid down somewhere else, but apparently you weren’t lying when you said a few down. Good thing I hadn’t tried to play with myself behind the pathetic corner wall or else you would have undoubtedly seen. From this angle your sleeping pose was rather exposing, and at first I twirled away worried you were changing. Who the fuck changes horizontal in bed? Slowly, as if your body was a movement triggered bomb I spun back to face you. Were you trying to tempt me? Lying topless in filtered moonlight was the woman who had threatened to kill me for my horse. Immediately my pants grew rather tight, and a tiny whimper slipped my lips. In my defense the noise was only because the pressure of my pants was restricting blood flow in just the right way. A gentlemen would go to bed and leave the rest up to dreams. This Cowboy is not a gentle man.
13:16
. Kneeling with my chest against the wall offered just enough leverage to peer around the edge without exposing my entire body. Within seconds I wrapped my cock up in a calloused palm. Through fluttering eye lids I had to focus or else risk spilling myself already, but unfortunately it had been a long time since this poor man had seen real tits. “Fuck!” Even though the word had been hissed through my teeth the orgasm rather rudely amplified it into a shout. Shit. Its hard to hide, tuck your cumming cock away, make no noise, and not hurt yourself. Reality proved this when I fell sideways to the floor with a soft thump. Usually when I tipped myself quickly like this the climax wasn’t as powerful, but like a loser I filled my pants with more than several ribbons of hot mess. I honestly didn’t know what would be worse, waking you up or the stupid horse. For some reason my brilliance decided clenching both eyes shut would keep you from seeing me, and after that my head finally cleared enough to think normally again. Get in bed idiot. My core still felt like I was on the downward leg of a rollercoaster, and I think another strand of me seeped out while crawling into the cot. Don’t move, don’t make a noise. Is this prayer? If you rounded the corner to check on me would I even be capable of looking normal?
13:16
@killahxkylie
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Briar Campbell BOT 07-Sep-23 02:10 PM
Things hadn’t always been the way they are at the prison now and I most often got to remember that when I managed to drift to sleep. When my nights were not plagued with nightmares, happier times danced behind my eyes as if I was watching a movie. Normally they were spent with my dad and my uncles but tonight my mom paid a visit. I was maybe eight years old and she had just called me outside to help her pull weeds from the garden. There used to be a time when I was afraid of getting dirty but she quickly worked that out of me. I asked her for gloves and all she did was laugh that sweet honey laugh she always had and told me that ‘a little nature was nothin to be afraid of.’ If only she knew what would come in the future. We were so safe behind our walls that many of us had forgotten the very real threat that still wandered around outside of them. We spent so long pulling weeds that day so we could get the fall and winter crops planted and at the end of it I was full of dirt but I felt so accomplished. Most importantly mama was proud of me, I always did love making her proud. She bragged to my father that night about how helpful I was and from then on whenever I saw her getting ready to go to the gardens I went with her. For as long as I had her anyway. The nice thing about dreams is sometimes they let you skip the bad parts and just play the good on a loop. We were just about to head inside for some lemonade when a crashing thud woke me from my sleep. It had been a long time since I heard anything like that in the night and it had me sitting straight up in a panic. I reached over to my bedside to grab a lantern and get it lit before pulling on a shirt and standing up to hold it out in front of me. .
14:11
Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary, you were asleep or at least you were in bed and Cookie was fine. “Lee.. Lee, are you alright?” I hushed out just loud enough that you would be able to hear me if you were awake. Not seeing anything didn’t mean that nothing was creeping around, years alone and plenty of bad experiences will make you paranoid. I grabbed my gun in my free hand and made my way down to where you had set up your cot. “Did you hear that? C’mon I know there's no way you’d sleep through that.” Given everything that you had I assumed you must spend a lot of your time alone and that means being hyper aware of your surroundings, or being dead. You weren’t dead so there was no way you would ever sleep through a noise that loud. @bonghitsforfeds
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Lee Boone BOT 07-Sep-23 03:46 PM
If my desire for you to not investigate could be manifested into something physical it would be powerful enough to fry us dead. When you said my name there was still a spiraling sensation of ecstasy pulsing in my nuts, and sadly the sound of my title on your lips stole one last drop from a flush tip. Kill me. The entire situation was a fault of my design. Everything got worse when I heard you rise from the bed. At that point it was inevitable we would be speaking. Currently no good ideas circulated about how to keep you from spotting my underwear full of fresh mess. Playing possum only worked when you didn’t just tell someone you don’t sleep worth a damn. Do professional perverts think this through more? My back was facing you and paranoia told me that you could smell my sin. With great risk I let your words hang for a few seconds as I was afraid of giving up my act via shaky voice. I didn’t have a history of being unable to speak afterword, but this was also the first time I had spied on a sleeping woman. Lots of new experiences tonight. After clearing my throat, “Yeah I heard it, but I thought it was you?” The inquisitive tone was obviously fake. Time slowed down as my deflating dick swam through an embarrassing stickiness. Honestly the most amusing part was how I kept getting hit with shockwaves of worry that you’d tell the law. What fucking law? The last sheriff I saw was a screaming freak nailed to a tree. The locals of that place hated the dude when he was alive and there was a sign nearby threatening death if you put the monster out of its misery. Can’t blame em though, there are a couple of people I would also wish to suffer for an eternity.
15:46
. Keeping my current position felt awkward. In a swift movement I sat up and turned to sit forward, and with a sly slight of hand attempted to cover my lap with a sheet. Thank fuck I had grabbed the light fabric as initially I had intended to leave it packed up. As my legs shifted a slimy stream of myself ran down the side of my nut bag. At first it was an annoying sensation, but locking eyes with you during sent a pump of blood back into my core. 0h no. Gritting my teeth was all I could do to not whine. Level voice. Straight face. I tried to pretend you were an old boss or something and that didn’t work. Being ashamed of my actions only amplified the new budding desire. What I said next came out much too fast, “S-Sorry, I am a little shaken up tonight.” Make her go away! At least if everything went bad there was enough ammo in a six shooter to kill myself rather effectively. How would you remember the heroic cowboy who blew his brains out covered in cum? Something told me it wouldn’t be a good legacy. Mom always did say it was bad luck to leave the ranch, and I suppose the fact she was long dead to not hear of my despicable demise was also a good thing. Both of my hands had been resting lazily at either side of my crotch. This made it particularly concerning when the sheet shifted a tad with no help of its own. My eyes had been locked on yours so I had no way of knowing for sure if it had visibly moved. A smart man would have just shifted his weight to hide the growing erection, but I was terrified of drawing more attention to it. Why the fuck is this bitch still standing here? Suddenly I grew extremely concerned that you were going to request my help in searching the place for intruders. In fact I was so sure of this terrifying outcome that I could practically see the thought forming within your head. If this woman asks me to stand up it’s over. Maybe I would get lucky and Cookie would wake up spooked and kick my fucking face in.
15:46
@killahxkylie
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Briar Campbell BOT 09-Sep-23 08:34 PM
I screwed my face up when you said you thought it was me as if it was the dumbest thing I had ever heard. Maybe I had overestimated how smart and aware of your surroundings you were. "Well if it was me I wouldn't be over here asking if you knew what it was." I stepped inside of the cell and looked around us again, it was better to be behind bars if there were crawlers around. I had only seen them wander their way into this part of the prison on a couple occasions before they'd scamper back to wherever they came from but they always terrified me. The way you were acting wasn't helping matters any because you seemed so anxious that it was starting to rub off on me. Honestly the entire day had thrown me so off course I didn't know how to feel anymore. I felt a little guilty when you said that you were just shaken up and honestly it made sense, I couldn't imagine how off I would feel if I had been out there facing that giant blob. Not to mention the number of explosions that went off near you. "No it's.. fine. I think I'm a little on edge too. I think that's the second craziest day I've ever experienced actually." I took one last look around and then sat on the edge of your cot next to you. "Maybe we could share a cell for the night? We're both feeling shaky and I think it would help. Not to mention I don't know what we might have thrown off doing this and I'd rather not be separated if things go to shit." .
20:34
In all honesty I was realizing even just from a short period of time that being alone sucked and now that I had had even a modicum of human interaction again I was terrified to lose it in the same way that I had before. This time I wasn't going to be caught completely off guard, this time I knew that things had been stirred up and that there was a good chance things could still go south. "Is that alright with you? I don't take up much space." It's not like my bed was anything like what it used to be, I could just drag the makeshift mattress down and plop it in the corner. @bonghitsforfeds
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Lee Boone BOT 10-Sep-23 09:11 PM
Great, she thinks I am an idiot. Honestly it made me feel rather mopey to be mistaken a fool. When you pride yourself in knowledge its hard to be called dumb, and you double fuck yourself if you choose to argue. Instead I just sat there trying to hide my awkward rock hard cock while you scolded me for being clueless. Oh satan wrapped hotdogs, she’s coming closer. Paranoia told me you were going to grip deep into my cum stained sheet and throw it across the room. Would you kick me out upon discovering I’d been peeping? I’d deserve it and all previous laws of the land would have supported the eviction. What’s even more sad is a part of me desperately wanted to be discovered. It wasn’t a degradation thing, but rather a risqué play that comes with living on a deviant’s edge. Great, maybe the reason life has been so boring for me is because I am destined to be a serial pervert. Oh well, at least a monster ridden hellscape made easy pickings for sexual prey. Hell, here I come! The devil heard me bemoaning his name and reached through the ceiling to possess my sexy host. Her stupid ass sat next to me on the cot. I almost yelped. Kill yourself. Kill yourself. Apparently my mind had already decided on a course of action. What kind of trauma would I leave you with if I emptied my head into this prison cell. Knowing my luck you’d just keep me from getting to my gun and disarm me. Oh no, now I was just thinking about you straddling me while tossing my revolver across the room. Focus! For a moment we seemed saved of heightening tension when you related to feeling frazzled from killing hundreds of undead, but then you launched me right back into horny swirling by asking to spend the night.
21:11
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21:12
‘I don’t take up much space.’ My face must have said everything because you looked mildly offended. A sore neck spun my head back and forth between your face and the cot. “Do you mean,” After that my voice hitched into a little squeak. After clearing my dust filled throat, “Ma’am do you mean sharing my cot?” Was cot close to the word cock, or was my dick just dancing at the thought of being close to you? An engine of regret in my head spun up about a missed context clue. Was there perhaps something else you had been eluding too? Surely you didn’t mean dragging a whole other bed into here. On its own my voice dipped into a deeper swell of desire, “It’s been awhile since this rusty nobody has shared space with something soft as you.” Flirting felt awkward with our short history, but hundreds of miles in lonesome desert and a rock hard cock made it difficult to process things naturally. I’d glanced twice at your tight ass on the way inside, and a tired man would be lying if the thought of his once pumped dick resting between it didn’t seem a welcome thanks for a hard day’s work. “Unless you want me to sleep on the floor. You can have the bed.” Please pretty stranger, soak your scent into my cot so I can huff at its glory for weeks. This must be what no pussy does to a man. If you slapped me so hard it ruptured blood vessels I’d deserve it. Just don’t blame me if I cum too. @killahxkylie
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Briar Campbell BOT 12-Sep-23 09:43 AM
“Do I-?” My face screwed up into confusion and annoyance as if I would actually share a cot with you, I barely even knew you at all. Why on earth would I want to sleep in your bed? “No of course I don’t want to sleep in your cot I would drag mine over. It’s not like it’s some fancy bed or anything.” I couldn’t help but scoff at the suggestion. “I just think it would be a good idea to be closer together in case something happens.” Something being some creepy crawly undead fuck coming to try to turn us into past tense. “If you don’t want me to be in your space you can just tell me.” I crossed my arms and looked over at a still peacefully sleeping Cookie. She must be used to this kind of nonsense. It didn’t even actually occur to me that you might be flirting with me. “You don’t need to sleep on the floor, it’s terrible for your back.” I would know. Before I had figured everything out on my own I had spent a few nights sleeping on poured concrete and it felt like my back was going to crack in half the next day. I didn’t even wait for your answer before I got up and went back to my cell to drag my cot over into your cell, setting it up against the other wall so I wasn’t too close to you. “See? Plenty of room.” I already felt safer being in here with you and the horse but I wasn’t about to admit that that was the real reason I wanted to not sleep alone tonight. Truth be told, I hated the fact that it made me feel so weak to be around another person. “Sorry if I come off as rude.. I haven’t seen another person in a long time. It’s new to me.” @bonghitsforfeds
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Lee Boone BOT 12-Sep-23 11:10 AM
Why was it the ‘of course’ that hurt so much? After the world ends people cannot share a space without it being an obvious intrusion to normality apparently. You were correct that we had just met, and of course no act was expected of you, but putting yourself out there does have a tendency to blow up in your face. Of course this man just wanted to hide the fact seconds ago he’d been peeping on you, but this polite offer to share rooms was making it difficult. It wasn’t lost on this tired fool that both sides of the argument left you on the losing end. Its hard to tell someone, ‘listen lady, I am a horny creep who wants to watch your back rise and fall while you sleep, please return to your sleeping area so I can get back to it.* Instead I swallowed again like the action would magically hide my poorly disguised attraction. Did you really not know this sheet was concealing a drooling cock? Apparently not, because you just made comments about sleeping on the floor before leaving to get your things. Had I really just sat here like a dumb donkey not saying a word through that entire encounter? I continued to sit slack jawed for several moments before kicking into high gear. Launching myself off the cot I fumbled through my bags for another pair of underwear. All I had with me for replacements was long johns, and nothing would force this man to sleep hotter than necessary tonight. Dragging effort from the hallway suggested your return was near, and I was still standing here panicking with my blood stuffed man meat dangling around. Something told me you wouldn’t suck the desire from its tip as a thanks no matter how much I begged. Finally I decided on just tossing myself back into bed. Lying down and covering myself with the sheet did a decent job of hiding my obvious need, and if I laid sideways it was completely undiscoverable. Just as long you don’t decide to sit with me again.
11:10
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11:10
The simple thought of you applying any pressure to me pumped another painful ounce of blood through hot core. Give me a fucking break. I just took care of this. Does yelling at your erection work? Surely I was the first genius to come up with this plan. No more time for panic though as you were rounding the corner with your stuff. When you lowered your head to drag the mass into our room muscles flexed in your shoulders and I had to wipe drool from my lower lip. Strong country women truly are gods gift to man. If monsters were the price I had to pay for glimpses of pretty tower stuck princesses, then so be it. After you sat it down our eyes locked just as you caught me staring a torso too low. You definitely caught me red handed staring at your ass, but if we got lucky it’d be written off as pondering the mattress…right? After a gulp, “You are right, that fits in here just fine.” Cookie still hadn’t woken up, so its doubtful she was opposed. “And don’t worry one lemon drop over it.” Was this next part laying things on too heavy? “Besides, sometimes I let my emotions get ahead of me.” If you step two feet to the right and inspect the wall closely you’d have noticed I already sprayed it with my mistakes. Its up to the universe now to see if you discovered my crimes. @killahxkylie
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Briar Campbell BOT 12-Sep-23 01:14 PM
Plopping the small bed down was easy work and when I had turned to make some sort of conversation with you it looked like you had been staring at me. Why did that make me feel weird inside? I brushed it off and just normal and sat down on my bed with my back against the wall. I envied you for having a companion for however long you had, even if it was an animal at least it wasn't being completely alone. I don't think the undead count, the only thing they want to do is eat your flesh and move on. "Wow, I completely forgot about lemon drops. Makes my mouth water just thinking about one." A small smile graced my face and I realized it had been so many years since I had anything sweet. The apple from earlier had been the first thing in ages and even that wasn't candy. “Honestly I don’t think I’ve gotten too emotional in a long time. Sorta easy to ignore them when your only company is a bunch of dead people.” I grimaced at my own words trying to pretend that there wasn’t a high likelihood of some of them being the people that I used to know. It’s not like I would be able to easily recognize them all things considered, everything had happened so fast and almost nobody looked the same once they turned anyway. When I had first dragged my bed into this cell my original plan was to go right back to sleep but now I was too on edge and worried about something happening for that to possibly happen. Plus I was feeling more tense being closer to you, I hadn’t really expected that. .
13:14
There was some kind of urge to fill the silence with conversation so I started rambling much to my own discomfort. “Everyone else got killed a long time ago. Nobody knew how it happened but a bunch of those undead fucks ended up swarming the place and managed to get in. My dad and uncle ended up hiding me away so that nothing would get me and by the time it was over everyone was gone…” I sighed heavily before continuing “I don’t even know if some of them are still walking around right now honestly. Or what determines if you just die or if you turn, I’ve seen both happen you know.” I knew it was eventually something you would probably ask anyway given the fact that you were here now and had done all that work to even get to me but that didn’t make it easier to talk about. Especially since you were the first person to ever hear about it. @bonghitsforfeds
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Lee Boone BOT 12-Sep-23 04:29 PM
Watching such a soft thing talk made it easy to forget myself. My sin, which currently splattered a nearby wall, and the monsters outside seemed much less a threat to sanctity when a pure being speaks. You obviously knew how to care for yourself, as no one was here and your rifle shots were clean. Yet, every single thing about you exuded this demeanor of naivety. You’d expect someone who had assumedly survived years here to be… harder. Nothing about this woman struck me as solid other than the natural brawn about her frame that accompanies a country life. It’d be a curious spectacle if the enigma wasn’t currently trying to sleep in my room. I was properly distracted by you now as the mentioning of watering mouth didn’t pique my cock’s interest. It didn’t matter though because any silly words I would have shared were smothered by your sad admissions. Your mentioning of multiple ways to turn undead wasn’t new to me, but the fact you had been trapped here so long was. As far as this cowboy knew the prison had been overrun since just a year after everything went bad. If math serves me correctly that meant you grew up in this shit hole. Its sad, but also genuinely unnerving. Your tragic upbringing explains the odd mannerisms, but it also meant there was a small chance you were absolutely psycho. Why does this always happen to me?
16:30
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16:30
Okay, now I have to play therapist after killing a horde of undead. Jerking off to stranger women isn’t fun when they come complain to you about feelings. “That sounds like an impossible history to manage.” Pleasantries are hard to formulate when I had only seen five people in the last calendar year. Most are gone or changed, and the ones left aren’t typically in the mood for small talk. Still, I did genuinely feel bad, “You will find a common trait among survivors is we all lost everybody.” I had not meant it to sound dismissive, and I hope the empathetic undertone was received. “I know all of the surviving camps in the Southwest, and I’d be happy to ferry you anywhere desired.” Did you know that dangerous escort was something I typically charged fortunes for? “Consider it a helping gift from one traumatized desert scorpion to another.” Not to mention I had just saved your life, but that was arguably beside the point. @killahxkylie
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Briar Campbell BOT 12-Sep-23 10:17 PM
I knew that there was a high chance everyone else out there that was surviving on their own had lost everyone but I was still envious of the little towns and villages I had heard of growing up. People that had other people they could consider family even if they didn't share blood. It's easy to forget just how badly you're craving another human's company when you're just going through the motions, but these weren't the motions I was used to and it was quickly pulling things out of me that I had buried deep inside for a reason. It wasn't safe to be distracted in this world. "I know. I mean I haven't talked to anyone in.. years but I know it's not an uncommon story." Even when I was young I had heard of other encampments like our own getting ravaged.
22:18
. The conversation was making it easier to relax and I curled up on my side on my bed so I could face you while you were still speaking. Your offer to take me to one of the settlements had my eyes practically popping out of my skull. "You'd really do that for me? I don't want to be a bother… I'm a really good shot though and I bet I could be of some use somehow." One thing she learned before everyone turned into blood and guts was that people never truly did anything for free, there was always some way someone was paying for it. I couldn't help but to wonder what you had been through. I mean what makes a person want to ride around the desert alone when there's places that you could settle? It dawned on me then that there was always a good possibility you had been in one of said settlements and been kicked out for being a sicko or something. My brows scrunched at that as I looked at you like a scientist studying a lab rat. You didn't look like someone who was going to try to hurt me, and I imagine there were far easier targets to get to that didn't involve blowing up hordes of zombies to get to if that was the case. @bonghitsforfeds
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Lee Boone BOT 13-Sep-23 11:15 AM
I think this stranger would be surprised to learn how far a dumb man is willing to go for a set of pretty eyes. I’d let you hit me right now if it made those sad disks shine brighter, but then again I also sacrifice myself on the regular just for adrenaline’s kiss. Am I unhinged? Our brows crossed simultaneously while we both pondered the same thing: Me. There was no time for me to suspect you of judging me because I was already too busy inflicting the curse upon myself. Our prison cell was rather confining, and our faces were only several paces apart. Occasionally an outpouring of your breath would grace my face with licks of hot swelter, and when a rather strong blast of it hit my lips it pulled me back to our present. Daydreaming isn’t so fun when its full of pity.
11:15
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11:16
It seemed unfair for you to share bits of yourself and not return the favor. Regardless, if I kept sitting here staring at you I’d probably get dizzy enough to force your tongue through that spattering only inches from your head. This was absolute torture, better talk in a distraction attempt, “Before everything got… silly I worked with ranchers. Leading the cattle around made me wise to pushing smart beasts where I want them.” In between sentences I knocked my knuckles on the cell’s wall, “A lot of the principles apply to those fuckers.” Usually without dynamite, but that hopefully went without saying. The challenge would be navigating this next bit without crying. “When my folks got overrun it happened while I was gone. My first sign was a mad horse eating a… never mind.” What was I talking about? “When I got back to town nobody was left but my son. He had already turned, but the rest of my family had wandered with a horde into the trees, or out of town presumably.” Getting this far had annoyingly forced me to cry, and finishing the story would end in balling. “But don’t let me ruin our sleepover. Point is Briar I’d be more than happy to help you go anywhere you wish.” Nobody ever wants to stick around, but who can blame them when when my job was killing old friends and neighbors. I needed a distraction, “If we were to leave in the morning, where is the first place you’d like to visit?” @killahxkylie
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Briar Campbell BOT 13-Sep-23 03:04 PM
I was honestly a little surprised when you kept the conversation going by telling me more about yourself, you seemed like a more closed off kind of guy but then again I wasn’t one to talk. It was easy to imagine you working on a ranch especially after seeing how you managed to lead even the undead where you wanted them. Not to mention the fact that you were definitely a natural on a horse. I let my mind get lost for a moment imagining you on horseback on a warm sunny day, I bet life was nice for you then. Sometimes I wish that I had gotten to know what life was like outside of this place but sadly the only bits of it I ever saw were on the old movies that people had found. My heart sank when you first mentioned your parents and it broke when you spoke of a son. My eyes floated back up to your face and I could see how much it still hurt you. I couldn’t imagine seeing my child like that. “I’m so sorry Lee.. that has to be devastating.” I rolled onto my back to make shapes of the random cracks in the ceiling after that part, the atmosphere feeling just a bit heavier than it had before. I doubted that there was anyone out there who was still alive who didn’t have a tragic story, honestly I’m sure most of the zombies did too. It had to be terrifying to feel yourself turning into something else. When you said my name in such a tone I turned just my head to look at you and smiled softer than I had thus far. “Honestly.. I don’t know. I’ve never been anywhere else, the furthest away from here that I had ever gone before everything got worse was a trip to a nearby town. I don’t even know if it’s still standing but I remember I begged my dad to let me ride along and he finally said yes once.” .
15:04
It had been one of the most exciting things I ever got to do and I still remember how much I loved being on horseback. After that first time he would occasionally let me go with him and the other riders but eventually when things started getting worse and worse my mom wouldn’t let him take me anymore. It sucked and I can still remember waiting on the lookout for them to get back every time they left. I would jump and cheer every time they got within eyesight all the way until I would run back into my dads arms for a hug. Funny how I thought that’s how things would always be. @bonghitsforfeds
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Lee Boone BOT 13-Sep-23 04:18 PM
Accepting pity over your murdered family is a surefire way to kill libido. There is a joke in there somewhere, and I’d have shared it with you if we were closer. Someday while riding underneath a golden sun we may be close enough to share silly gallows humor. No lemon drop rolls around a prison floor its entire life without coming away covered in cobwebs and cracks. Not to imply you were unfit for society, but rather we both had nobody, and in a real fucked up way its funny. Is it? To this weird fuck it is. To your admission there may be nothing of value here, but that could also be because no one had been here to show you the worth in yourself. Or you were a fucking psychopath who killed everyone here. I don’t know, we just met.
16:18
. After shifting in my bed I sat with the shiny eyes of fatherhood while you regaled me a trip to town. To many it would be sweet, but to me it was holistically sad. How empty or void of true interaction has your life been that a trip into town was a highlight? People grew up in poorer situations, however they also typically had access to a fishing memory, carnival, or the very least a show. Now my eyes fell on the sleeping giant whose swishing tail acted as our only sign she still lived. “Cookie would probably let you learn on her. She has a great temperament.” That was if you ignored her mad fits against nature, but I liked to cut the poor girl some slack as she does live in hell. Watching someone face light up when horse riding clicks is a unique juicy joy not shared to many. “I may not make as good memories as you father did, but I do know my way around a horse.” I needed to stop bringing up your dead family, however it was our topic of the hour. Is there anyway to heard us out of this awkward corner? “She’s best in the morning, and I like to rise early. If you’d like I can put her on a lead while you do laps in the yard? “Truth be told a different rider may be a breath of fresh air to her. “It’s been awhile since she made new friends.” @killahxkylie
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Briar Campbell BOT 13-Sep-23 07:59 PM
The look in your eye was one of both sadness from your own loss and pity for mine. I wasn’t a complete idiot and I knew that to someone who had a life outside of the shit show that was the infection before it happened that my life probably sounded painfully boring but honestly I didn’t need to travel to still be happy when things were good here. I had friends, there were a bunch of kids my age give or take a couple of years and we used to get into all kinds of trouble. The fun kind, not the dangerous kind but still. Not to mention all of the things I got to learn growing up here. My dad made sure I knew how to shoot and take care of my weapon, showed me how to cut up livestock, and taught me how to make the best chicken I had ever tasted. My mom on the other hand taught me how to sew and fix my own clothes, how to make sure a wound didn’t get infected, and probably most importantly she never let me go to bed without knowing how much she loved me. I doubted that you would ever understand that I would go back to those days if I could. I realized that I was lost in thought but the mention of learning how to ride snapped my attention back to the present. “You really mean it?” I could practically feel the childlike joy plastered all over my face. First the apple and now this? Maybe you weren’t such a stiffler after all. “I would love to learn.. I never got the chance to finish learning how to ride on my own before-. I’d just really like to learn. So long as cookie will have me.” I let out a small laugh at that. The little that I had seen from her she was definitely a very spirited horse and I knew you weren’t fooling anybody by pretending that you were the one in charge. @bonghitsforfeds
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Lee Boone BOT 14-Sep-23 05:36 PM
Oh shit. The way your face exploded upon the offer may have signified this as a mistake, and I expected a subsequent outpour of questions. Instead your look softened into one of genuine thanks. Being looked at with eyes of wonder is a sacred thing this man hasn’t felt in many years. She used to look at me like that, and usually it had been over something equally as mundane. It also strummed some out of tune strings on my dusty heart to have you mention Cookie so much. Even if she was sleeping the old bitch had a way of hanging onto any words mumbled. Your laugh helped me to start with a warm look of kinship, “If she didn’t like you we would probably know by now. She has a way of sniffing out the true fuckups.” Wait, is that why she is always sketched out around me? “Don’t worry too much about it, just stuff apples in her face and she’ll love you.” If I am lucky the same tactic may work on you. No, stop that. This is work, and I needed to focus. Adjusting my position in the bed let me fall backwards to a normal sleeping position. “They did a good job making this ceiling boring as all hell.” It was a dry comment, and I hope you didn’t take it as an insult to our casual conversation. Cookie stomped quietly in her sleep. I found myself jealous of her resting ease, “You know Briar,” my voice sounded different in our small space from how it was projected upward now, “If you stick around for a few days and offer me some more light hearted chats, I may consider liberating this place only a partial waste.” From outside came a screeching sound that generated deep unease. It was far away, and I doubted it a threat, but the unnatural noise still served a grim reminder of our reality. No matter how many sweet conversations we share there is only one way things end nowadays. Both of our lives were plagued by aftershocks of the very evil, but for one evening two people had each other. Will it last? @killahxkylie
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Briar Campbell BOT 15-Sep-23 08:58 AM
There was definitely a glint of something else in your eye when I was so excited about learning how to ride but I couldn’t quite place it, it was an emotion that I don’t think I’d ever seen before and it had me curious. Not curious enough to ask and embarrass myself but curious all the time. A soft laugh found its way to my lips when you told me to just stuff apples in her face and she would be fine because honestly after tasting one I couldn’t blame the creature. “I don’t blame her, they’re delicious. I’d do some pretty wicked things for an apple after finally having tasted one.” They were the next best thing to actual candy. I wonder if that even exists anymore. When you rolled onto your back I found myself looking at the same ceiling again, it felt creepy to just stare at you when you weren’t looking back at me anymore. “Well, I’m glad getting me out of here isn’t considered a complete waste of time in your book Lee.. and to be honest getting to talk to someone else has been nice. The dead don't tend to talk back.” There had been countless times that I wished they would, even if it didn’t make any sense hearing actual words would have been a gift in itself. Instead the only thing I had heard for countless years was garbled grounds and gurgles of air moving past half rotten flesh. The screeching in the distance had a shiver running up my spine and struck a kind of fear in me that I hadn’t felt in a long long time. “Do you think we can really get out of here? I mean do you think that anywhere else would really take me in?” @bonghitsforfeds
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Lee Boone BOT 15-Sep-23 09:32 PM
Did you have to use the word wicked? It might as well have been an angel’s intervention for how powerfully it blasted my mind into tumbling desire. What risqué things are you capable of tower locked princess? Does being trapped away for so long grant your imagination with a boon of lustful planning? No, no. I’d have shaken my head if it didn't feel silly. We just met, your practically half my age. My dead wife would have slapped my stupid for even pretending to wish for a girl this young. Thankfully I was pulled from drowning in disgraced thoughts by your sweet words. Our conversation had been pleasant, and your words over wandering dead being poor company couldn’t be closer to the truth. “I mean that loud motherfucker from last night talked back a little bit.” Chuckling at my own joke didn't seem appropriate after the sounds left my mouth. Speaking about the loud one had me replaying the sorrowful screams in mind’s theatre. Hyper focusing the noises would likely make them appear in my dreams, and that was the last thing I wanted to deal with tonight. .
21:33
“Getting out of here shouldn’t be a big issue.” That was if the wandering horde didn't return tonight, and if no surprises reared their rotten heads. “Even if they come back I have more than enough explosives left.” Throwing bombs from the walls didn't feel safe, but my point was more we have resources and time on our side. “As far as being accepted I think you would be surprised how many people are all smiles for a helping set of willing hands.” Rules now were pretty simple, don’t be an asshole and you won’t get murdered. Although there were unsavory folks still about. What struck me as odd was how my insides twisted over the prospect of you living elsewhere. You weren’t mine, not even in the exclusive sense, so why did you feel like looted treasure? The stupid joke left my mouth before it could be stopped, “Maybe after trotting around with me and Cookie for a few days you will want to hang about?” It was too soon, and the moment it left my mouth it was obvious. Just as long as I don’t- “Sorry I didn’t mean for that to be weird.” Awkward freaky old man. That’s what I am. At least being shot down will solidify the plan as dumb. @killahxkylie
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Briar Campbell BOT 16-Sep-23 07:59 AM
I almost laughed at the joke about the screaming thing from last night but for some reason it felt like it was in poor taste. There was something about the way that it screamed that sounded so sad. It was still terrifying but I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe since it had the intelligence to speak if it had the intelligence to feel. What if it was in pain? It was something that I pondered a lot late at night when I couldn’t sleep. What if they were all aware of their suffering but there was nothing they could do about it? Still I managed a small smile because it was nice seeing your sense of humor. The knowledge that there was enough explosives left to hopefully deal with any that came back helped to put my mind at ease. For the longest time now I’ve resigned myself to being stuck here until I ran out of food, and then likely dying trying to make my own way out. “It’s been so long I feel like I don’t know how to be around other people.” I let out half of a soft laugh at that and imagined what it would be like to be in a small settlement full of people. Would I even be able to make friends? The building worry had my lips tugging down into a frown. Maybe I wasn’t meant to leave this place, what if I did something wrong and messed everything up in a new place? We never did figure out what happened here and why they came or how they got in. What if it had been my fault? That little thought ate at me more than I’d like to admit. Your roundabout offer of sticking with you had me turning my head to face you because it honestly didn’t sound so bad. It was better than being alone without the worry about being around tons of other people all the time. “No it…sounds nice. Besides, I think Cookie and I will be fast friends.” @bonghitsforfeds
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Lee Boone BOT 19-Sep-23 11:50 AM
Friendship makes for a lovely lullaby. This man hadn’t heard the song in many years. Kind words from a soft and thankful soul were sandman’s dust. It also probably helped that I had emptied my balls on the floor only minutes ago, but fate had blessed me with keeping that secret. Before I had officially fallen into a deeper sleep, your words about riding around together kept circling my head like water stuck in a gutter corner. Sloshing around inside the soup of soul was a horny drip of gold that wouldn’t filter out no matter how many revolutions of thought I gave it. Girly flesh bent over a rotting fence in the middle of nowhere desert, while my flush meat stuffs her full. It got worse when I realized your life served here likely meant you were untuned to rituals of body. How many dirty things could this old cowboy teach a tower locked princess? Nasty thoughts made for nasty dreams, and if the very nature who cursed our planet with rotting corpses granted any blessings it made sure that my mumblings of your name were unheard. During my jaunt through midnight mind paradise a sleeping Lee had dreamed of having his way with you anyway. .
11:51
Cookie awoke before anyone else the next morning. My own rip from sleep was not long after hers as it turns out dancing hooves upon stone tile is very loud. My very first sight was her huge judging eyes piercing my drooling mind with a knowing glare. Next my sleepy gaze passed over your resting body, and the only reason it didn’t hang upon your covered hips was because of the way the horse stared. “Fine.” The word was spat at her, and hopefully the tired headache plaguing my body wouldn’t last all morning. Only a hint of sun had peeked its head through our cell window, and not enough light filled our space for the color of anything to be visible. Our world was washed out with grey and mysterious shadow. Rising from the bed immediately sprung my bedsheet free, and my forgotten naked form stood exposed for dead world to see. You were only shuffling at this point, and I scrambled for the pair of pants I had lost yesterday. It was too much noise, and my hand had barely closed around the discarded garment when you began to wake proper. Shitfuck Every curse word known to man streamed together all at once as I hastily slid trousers up my leg. .
11:51
Why am I so stupid? It would be easier to explain I sleep naked and have a new friend just be mildly creeped out. Thrashing around while surrounded by apocalypse survivors with your morning wood flag pole hard is probably the single most suspicious act you can perform beside willingly letting monsters in. The haste had been of no use, and I barely had the pants passed my knees when your eyes found my form. Well, at least there was no fear over my endowment, but not even the most love drunk woman wants to see a man’s cock first thing in the morning. A thousand good lies passed my eyes before I decided to choose one of the worst. “I sweat a lot, and needed to change.” If Cookie kicked my head into a pulp on the wall it still wouldn’t be enough to escape this situation. What’s worse is my sex had obviously rushed even more flush when those doe eyes had passed over it. Anything to progress this scenario needed to be done, so I opened my mouth to spill some genius, “Do you uh… Want an apple?” @killahxkylie
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Briar Campbell BOT 20-Sep-23 05:30 PM
This time when sleep found me again I felt much more at ease knowing that we weren’t separated into different cells anymore. Cookie's heavy breathing was even more soothing up close and I found myself drifting off cradled in the comfort of new company. I had long given up on finding anyone, or anyone finding me rather, and it wouldn’t surprise me if I woke up in the morning and all of this had somehow been some long sort of time warped dream that my brain made seem much longer than it really was. It wouldn’t be the first time that I had had one. I had woken up confused about my own age on more than one occasion when I had dreamt of being back then with my family. This night's dreams conjured up images of a possible future instead. The two of us on horseback making our way to nearby towns, getting to see more of the world beyond what I could see through the scope of a gun, and most importantly food that hadn’t gone stale many moons ago. .
17:31
There was a soft rustling that started to stir me awake but my eyes and bones were still so heavy with peaceful sleep that I barely even moved. It wasn’t until there was a much more disruptive burst of movement that I finally rolled back over to face you and when my eyes finally opened and I rubbed the sleep from them I was shocked at what I saw. Not only were you naked but it looked like you had gotten into a physical altercation with your pants. Who has this much trouble getting dressed at your age? I couldn’t help but let my eyes wander, I had never seen anyone but myself naked before and I was honestly curious. When they wandered down further and what my eyes landed on seemed to twitch just from me looking at it I felt my cheeks heat. I wasn’t dumb enough not to know what I was looking at my parents had taught me what everyone had but I didn’t know it did.. that. “Are you okay?” I asked with one brow quirked up in question. I barely even heard your explanation or question with how distracted I was. “Are you.. I mean are you hurt or something?” @bonghitsforfeds
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