Monster Island(31)

But,Gary thought, I digress. I was speaking of the dead men who feed the tree. Stinking little buggers, stinking of the life force because it was positively dripping from them, fuming up like steam off their backs as it evaporated away not the golden shiny life of Dekalb and friends, no, this was the shadow of that energy-lacking dimension, cold instead of hot, dark instead of bright-but it was still energy of a kind. Enough to feed the tree. Enough to feed anybody if you could tap it and yes,Gary could.Gary could. Because unlike the discrete packets of energy inside of Dekalb’s Angels, those ripe bursting fruits of life force, the dead men were all connected, interconnected, tied together in a web of fuming darkness. There were what, six, seven billion people before the Epidemic but now there was only one dead Humanity. The thing, the Epidemic, the disaster that brought the dead back joined them together, made them as one, like a swarm of locusts so thick they darken the sky or like a cloud, an infinite number of tiny droplets of water but where does one end and one begin there is no answer it’s a zen koan there is only one of us with many bodies and I am its consciousness. I am its commander.

David Wellington - Monster Island

GOOD. NOW OPEN YOURSELF.

That voice again…

Remember Trucker Cap? Remember him, becauseGary sure did remember how Trucker Cap had attacked him and Gary had told him to stop and he did. AndGary had told him to f*ck off and die and lo and behold so it had come to pass becauseGary, alone among the dead, could still think. He could still reach out. He alone had the brains (ha!) to hack into that network. He was connected to them all, he was one of them, but he alone could exploit that.

He sucked dark energy from the crowd that surrounded the megastore, sucked it out from a distance and felt it surge up through his arm, thrilling into his fingers and yes and yes and yes there it was god f*cking damn you there he had it it slipped away but he grabbed it again broken nails sinking into the metal, digging in like talons and eureka he had it and he pulled, so much power in his hand he had to make a conscious act of will to keep from yanking the f*cking thing out and then it was in his hand wet and hot and he clutched it, squeezed it, the goddamn bullet was out of his head. It was out of his head. The damage was done, brain tissue torn up like a wet wad of toilet paper skin bone and muscle pierced vertebrae broken, shattered but you know what? None of it mattered.

The tree pulsed with life as it would forever. Fucking forever man I’m going to live forever and you cannot stop me,Gary thought, he wanted to scream it at f*cking Ayaan and f*cking Dekalb you cannot stop me I am billions strong.

He dropped the bullet and it made a sound like a tiny bell ringing. From above he heard a tense whisper. “What was that?”

He heard it. He could hear again.

When dawn came and with it the light, he could see again. He was standing, standing in the shadows, looking at an Olsen Twins DVD in his hand and he could read the smallest text on the back of the jewel case. He could see. He could stand and walk. Life (of a sort, the dark sort) pulsed through him so furiously, so strongly he was surprised he wasn’t glowing.

David Wellington - Monster Island

NOW. COME TO ME.

That voice! Where did it come from?





Monster Island





Chapter Three


Fine blue tattoos covered him from head to toe. A rope tied tight around his neck and an armband made of fur were his only clothing but he stood there unashamed and looked down at Gary with a kind of haughty pride. A particularly stuck up teacher staring down at his best pupil.

“Come to me,” he said again, and then he was gone. In his place was an image of a temple or a library or something. Lots of steps leading up to a facade of columns.Gary knew the place but its name wouldn't come to him.

Climbing the escalator took a couple of tries.Gary ’s brain continued to heal itself but his motor control was the slowest in coming back. Lucidity had returned like walking into air conditioning on a scorcher of a day but the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other was still mostly beyond him. The seizures that racked his body and left his brain fizzing like a well-shaken seltzer bottle didn’t help either. He would progress a few yards only to find himself lying on the floor with no explanation how he’d gotten there, his hands clenched like claws and his ankles twisted beneath him.

In time he reached the ground floor of the megastore, taking the last few steps on his hands and knees. He rose shakily and lurched for the door only to be stricken by the sight of what lay outside.