Re: The Gradual Massacre (GBS2G4) [Round 4: Misty Swamp]
06-20-2011, 07:59 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by whoosh!.
Aic slammed knee-deep into a swamp, splattering water of markedly questionable quality over several eldritch zombies and Kalevi. Being utterly unfazed by the change in scenery, Aic didn't hesitate and finished sweeping her chainsaw upwards with a glorious growl of machinery. Kalevi fired his shots and, swinging around Aic, shafted the newly dismembered head of the monster at another one of its kind. Then, in unison, the two of them leapt backwards away from the zombies. They stumbled a little in the muck – Aic almost being tipped over by the weight of her weapon – until Kalevi placed a hand on Aic's arm.
“What?” She turned to him, tensed.
“Look. Look at them.”
In the stillness of the moment it became painfully obvious that while, in their last locale, the zombies had been more than willing to oblige the pair's bloodlust, they were not doing as such now. Aic stepped tentatively towards one, wincing slightly at the cold squelching of the mud on her bare feet. It did not react. She lay her chainsaw down in the cack of the swamp a little reluctantly and turned back to the creature. Apprehensively, she peered into its eyes.
Nothing. It stared straight ahead.
Aic reached into her pocket and drew out a spare magazine for her lost gun. After slipping out a few cased bullets and briefly polishing them on her sleeve, she lifted one up to its eye level. Slowly she moved the bullet closer, until it was almost touching it. Suddenly she flicked aside, and it landed a few feet away with a muted splash. Throughout it all the eyes of the test subject did not move in the slightest.
“Odd. The brain doesn't appear to be engaged,” she mused. Aic took a few steps around it, noting the rigid stance. “It only seems to be still standing because the muscles have completely seized up.” She glanced across at Kalevi, who seemed distinctly more unsettled by the ruined bodies of his colleagues standing around. “What do you think?”
“This is... fuck, this is weird.”
“Yeah?”
“Let's leave. Now.”
“Now? But I'm not finished testing,” she replied, her apparent sincerity betrayed only by the faint smile that touched her lips. Ignoring Kalevi she rounded on her chosen test subject once more and looked up at the unmoving face. Stifling a laugh, she placed a hand on its chest and gently pushed it away from her.
Agonisingly slowly it tipped backwards, then fell much faster into the swamp with a satisfying spray of mud. Unable to hold back any longer she collapsed into a fit of giggles. Just when she thought she might have regained control fresh laughter bubbled up, and all the while she silently watched herself in abject horror.
Suddnely, Kalevi grabbed her by the arm and yanked her round to face him. He was pale, but he was furious. He thrust the muck-slathered chainsaw into her unresisting hands.
“I have had enough of this shit, Aic. I don't where I am, my friends have just been turned mad and then lobotomised, and now you're acting like another fucking lunatic like the cherry on the crazy cake,” Kalevi seethed. “Okay? So when I say we're leaving, that is exactly what we're going to fucking do.”
Aic had stopped laughing, and felt only the morbid dread that she'd refused to acknowledge before. She dropped her gaze and clung to her weapon.
“I'm sorry, Kal.”
She didn't want to look to see what his response would be, so she just let him lead her away from the still bodies, trailing her chainsaw behind her.
Eventually they disappeared from sight, partially hidden by the purple fog that swirled through the air, and partially by the trees that reached towards a dull sky. Around the still people nothing moved.
Nothing, that is, except for the fog. But it would be easy to discount that. The fog was not alive. It had no presence. If not for the faint mind-affecting properties of the stuff it would be not be worth mentioning in such detail at all.
However, as it turns out, when a soul is ripped from a human to make place for other functions – say, for instance, to be controlled by a single eldritch being, to have increased cannibalistic desires and so forth – and then the source of those functions is destroyed, the empty shell left behind is a fertile place. You have almost boundless potential, but no drive or soul to direct it.
And, hypothetically, were some substance of faint mind-affecting abilities to come into prolonged contact with this incredible potential, it would not be too surprising if the two were to merge in some way. Perhaps, for example, the substance would gain the intelligence and presence afforded by a human shell, but still retain the paranoia-inducing nature and single nature of the substance. A hive-mind of plague-carriers, bearing insanity instead of a disease of the flesh.
In unison, the crowd of still people turned to stare at where Aic and Kalevi had vanished.
And then they began to walk.
Aic slammed knee-deep into a swamp, splattering water of markedly questionable quality over several eldritch zombies and Kalevi. Being utterly unfazed by the change in scenery, Aic didn't hesitate and finished sweeping her chainsaw upwards with a glorious growl of machinery. Kalevi fired his shots and, swinging around Aic, shafted the newly dismembered head of the monster at another one of its kind. Then, in unison, the two of them leapt backwards away from the zombies. They stumbled a little in the muck – Aic almost being tipped over by the weight of her weapon – until Kalevi placed a hand on Aic's arm.
“What?” She turned to him, tensed.
“Look. Look at them.”
In the stillness of the moment it became painfully obvious that while, in their last locale, the zombies had been more than willing to oblige the pair's bloodlust, they were not doing as such now. Aic stepped tentatively towards one, wincing slightly at the cold squelching of the mud on her bare feet. It did not react. She lay her chainsaw down in the cack of the swamp a little reluctantly and turned back to the creature. Apprehensively, she peered into its eyes.
Nothing. It stared straight ahead.
Aic reached into her pocket and drew out a spare magazine for her lost gun. After slipping out a few cased bullets and briefly polishing them on her sleeve, she lifted one up to its eye level. Slowly she moved the bullet closer, until it was almost touching it. Suddenly she flicked aside, and it landed a few feet away with a muted splash. Throughout it all the eyes of the test subject did not move in the slightest.
“Odd. The brain doesn't appear to be engaged,” she mused. Aic took a few steps around it, noting the rigid stance. “It only seems to be still standing because the muscles have completely seized up.” She glanced across at Kalevi, who seemed distinctly more unsettled by the ruined bodies of his colleagues standing around. “What do you think?”
“This is... fuck, this is weird.”
“Yeah?”
“Let's leave. Now.”
“Now? But I'm not finished testing,” she replied, her apparent sincerity betrayed only by the faint smile that touched her lips. Ignoring Kalevi she rounded on her chosen test subject once more and looked up at the unmoving face. Stifling a laugh, she placed a hand on its chest and gently pushed it away from her.
Agonisingly slowly it tipped backwards, then fell much faster into the swamp with a satisfying spray of mud. Unable to hold back any longer she collapsed into a fit of giggles. Just when she thought she might have regained control fresh laughter bubbled up, and all the while she silently watched herself in abject horror.
Suddnely, Kalevi grabbed her by the arm and yanked her round to face him. He was pale, but he was furious. He thrust the muck-slathered chainsaw into her unresisting hands.
“I have had enough of this shit, Aic. I don't where I am, my friends have just been turned mad and then lobotomised, and now you're acting like another fucking lunatic like the cherry on the crazy cake,” Kalevi seethed. “Okay? So when I say we're leaving, that is exactly what we're going to fucking do.”
Aic had stopped laughing, and felt only the morbid dread that she'd refused to acknowledge before. She dropped her gaze and clung to her weapon.
“I'm sorry, Kal.”
She didn't want to look to see what his response would be, so she just let him lead her away from the still bodies, trailing her chainsaw behind her.
Eventually they disappeared from sight, partially hidden by the purple fog that swirled through the air, and partially by the trees that reached towards a dull sky. Around the still people nothing moved.
Nothing, that is, except for the fog. But it would be easy to discount that. The fog was not alive. It had no presence. If not for the faint mind-affecting properties of the stuff it would be not be worth mentioning in such detail at all.
However, as it turns out, when a soul is ripped from a human to make place for other functions – say, for instance, to be controlled by a single eldritch being, to have increased cannibalistic desires and so forth – and then the source of those functions is destroyed, the empty shell left behind is a fertile place. You have almost boundless potential, but no drive or soul to direct it.
And, hypothetically, were some substance of faint mind-affecting abilities to come into prolonged contact with this incredible potential, it would not be too surprising if the two were to merge in some way. Perhaps, for example, the substance would gain the intelligence and presence afforded by a human shell, but still retain the paranoia-inducing nature and single nature of the substance. A hive-mind of plague-carriers, bearing insanity instead of a disease of the flesh.
In unison, the crowd of still people turned to stare at where Aic and Kalevi had vanished.
And then they began to walk.