What's in Your Head? (773 hits)
Category: Politics -> RepublicansLabels: fiction
Rating: 1.57 on 23 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Flash Harry (View user info) at 2008-10-01 08:45:36 EDT
'Tis true my Form is something odd, but blaming Me is blaming God.
Could I create Myself anew, I would not fail in pleasing You.
If I could reach from Pole to Pole, or grasp the Ocean with a span,
I would be measured by the Soul; the Mind's the standard of the Man.
A little poem that Joseph Merrick, one of my heroes, ended his letters with. Merrick was a clever fellow. Not clever enough to remember that his neck would snap if ever he slept flat on his back, mind you. One score, and seven years was all the time the poor fellow was given to enjoy life. He knew what was important though: his desire to be moved to a hospital for the blind, where he might find a woman who would not be repelled by his appearance, shows an admirable level of humanity. He was just lonely.
But Merrick had it easy, it must be said. He was adored by high society, a noted favourite of the Queen. His celebrity allowed him comfort and dignity and trips to the countryside and medical aid. Think on all the cripples, mutants and monsters that did not experience such fortune. People like me.
How else am I expected to turn out, if I am vilified, mocked and avoided? Should I be an optimist with an easy, bubbling wit? The human race is an odious and superficial one. You think I'm repulsive, with my bulbous snout and protruding teeth and sunken neck? That may be so, yet take a look in the mirror. Of course I'm bitter. Cynical. Vengeful. Murderous. I was born in an ugly shell, and the world stuffed me into it whensoever I tried to escape.
Which is why, of course, I'm mildly pleased with recent developments. This outbreak that seems to have swarmed through civilization like a cleansing gust. All those smiling, pretty people don't look so pleased with themselves now. I suppose it's hard to look smug when you're dead. Or undead, as the case may be.
Whenever I go outside, people stare and stutter at me. I've unnerved people all my life, in shops, banks, restaurants, wherever. There are some that cross the street to avoid me. Others stare at their feet as they walk past, and ignore me completely with nonchalant unease. Since the epidemic though, I've been free to wander the streets as I like without having to suffer all that indignity. It's come as something of a relief.
I was intrigued to meet one of the infected for myself. I wondered what this dreadful spate had made of them all. I didn't have any qualms about being attacked: if it happened, I'd either fight back, or submit to the next life, or happily die. My life has been such a series of trials that I would welcome sweet fatal release just as much as being converted into a moaning, bloodthirsty lemming. So I lingered around, outwith shelter, until one approached me.
It was great, I have to say. It was as though someone had emptied every ounce of logic and personality and cognition from the guy. He wandered over to me slowly, his arms crooked strangely outwards at the elbows, groaning and gargling from his gaping throat. The eyes were completely glazed, and the jerky, unnatural movements were vaguely reminiscent of a drunk who's forgotten how to walk. There were no recognizable traits of Man left. No judgement, no opinion, no standards or self-awareness. He was just a vacant shell. It was beautiful.
For the first time in years, another person approached me without being disgusted or repulsed or a policeman. I grinned, with my simian jaw, and tears welled up in my cavernous sockets. I felt accepted (or, if not quite accepted, at least I wasn't being rejected).
The fellow's breath stank, I realised, as he staggered to within a few feet of me. The stench was of meat, waste and bile. I got a good look at his skin, too, all peeling and dried out and rotting. I laughed, barely able to contain my glee: that I was prettier than him!
After a bit of a sniff, the zombie stumbled off without harming me, or showing the slightest taste for my flesh. This hurt, I must admit. I guess I didn't look human enough...which is true, I suppose, I don't look remotely like a 'normal' man. Which was a good thing, under the circumstances.
From around the corner, then, two desperate figures appeared, screaming for help and thrashing their legs wildly. I could tell from a glance that they were uninfected. The fear shone from their blazing eyes, and their mouths formed words and curses rather than incoherent belching. Following closely behind them was a huge hoard of slobbering, wailing monsters, dragging their knuckles and tripping over one another and gnashing their drooling gums together. They could move speedily enough, it seemed, when hunting.
The humans ran towards me, a young man and woman, as I raised my hand up to wave to them. I wanted to help them, from some humane instinct that bubbled somewhere in my gut. But, as they approached me they slowed, and then turned, and ran in the opposite direction. The man had taken one look at me, grabbed the girl by the arm and swerved to avoid me, ignoring my offer of friendship.
It was just blind rage that took over then. A lifetime of abuse, sideways glances and whispered ridicule flooded through my mind, burning my ears with hot embarrassment and fuelling my limbs with retribution. Before I could formulate thoughts I'd taken off from a standing position, pounding the ground in front of me in furious pursuit of the couple. The army of ghouls waddled in my wake, their benevolent moans spurring me on as though it were encouragement. The man looked horrified when he turned round, and saw this deformed, barrel-chested demon charging at him. The attack was short, but barbaric, and it would not do to record it all; indeed, I struggle to remember precisely what happened. For some reason I determined to leave them alive, for the zombies to enjoy, but I needed to vent my frustration first. I clobbered the man to the ground and grabbed the woman, gripping her by the neck and the ankles, squeezing like a vice. I closed my eyes and forced my arms across my chest, bending her in half; only the end of a satisfying series of crunches, and her gargled panic, told me that her spine had snapped.
Tossing her aside, I shattered the man's kneecaps with two swift, powerful kicks to the inside of his legs. I forced my fingers deep into his eyes, scratching and poking, so as to blind him. His screams drowned out my sobbing, but the tears that splashed onto the back of my hand brought me with a jolt back to my senses.
Slowly, I stepped away from them. Blinded, broken and unable to move, they could only wail now. The blabbering dozens of hungry beasts swarmed me, but not one afforded me a second glance in their stampede to the easy meat that lay before them. I felt sick. Loneliness overwhelmed me once again, as the fearful cries from that young couple were replaced by the peaceful smacking of lips and wet, chewing mouths. I staggered back a few paces, allowing more fiends into the feeding scrum.
I've given it a lot of thought, and I'm happy with suicide. Listen, in an ideal world I'd have been born normal and lived a fulfilling life, but that didn't happen. That wasn't an option. But really, what is there to live for now? To be the only living thing in a world of undead? I was King for this day, and that was enough. At least by doing it this way, I've got options.
Don't regret for what You've done; it's like throwing a Snowball to extinguish the Sun.
*dies*
User Reviews
Submitted by F.J.Bell (user info) at 2008-10-02 05:26:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Dribbling retal spaz, below.
Submitted by NintendoCzar (user info) at 2008-10-02 05:23:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Have another one, cake is a lie.
This was a triumph
I'm making a note here
HUGE SUCCESS
It's hard to overstate my satisfaction
Aperture Science
we do what we must because we can
for the good of all of us except for the ones who are dead
but there's no sense crying over every mistake
you just keep on trying until you run out of cake
and the science gets done and you make a neat gun
for the people who are still alive
I'm not even angry
I'm being so sincere right now
even though you broke my heart and killed me
and torn into pieces
and threw every piece into a fire
as they burned it hurt because I was so happy for you!
Now these points of data make a wonderful line
and we're out of beta, we're releasing on time
so I'm glad I got burned
Think of all the things we learned for the people that are still alive
go ahead and leave me
I think I prefer to stay inside
maybe you'll find someone else to help you
maybe black mesa
that was a joke, haha, fat chance
anyway this cake is great, it's so delicious and moist
look at me still talking, when there's science to do
when I look out there it makes me glad I'm not you
I've experiments to run, there is research to be done
on the people who are still alive
and believe me I am still alive
I'm doing science and I'm still alive
I feel FANTASTIC and I'm still alive
While you are dying I'll be still alive
and when you're dead I'll be still alive
STILL ALIVE, still alive
Submitted by NintendoCzar (user info) at 2008-10-02 05:22:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Submitted by F.J.Bell (user info) at 2008-10-02 04:19:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
NSFW, bitch-tits.
----------------------
SEAKING FUCK YEA
Submitted by experima (user info) at 2008-10-02 00:55:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2008-10-01 19:40:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Yozz (user info) at 2008-10-01 15:46:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm glad you're dead.
Submitted by Lib (user info) at 2008-10-01 14:26:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Liked
Submitted by John_H_Kim (user info) at 2008-10-01 13:43:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
amazing!
Submitted by redskieslookfake (user info) at 2008-10-01 12:22:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
are you a mackem sir?
Submitted by phuchuebuddy (user info) at 2008-10-01 12:08:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Very good
Submitted by TooMuchMan (user info) at 2008-10-01 11:22:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I came here to rate this "+2 Zombie" without having even read the post. Then I read the post. My argument stands. +2 Zombie.
Submitted by Nellypaal (user info) at 2008-10-01 10:55:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by Gyro_Gearloose (user info) at 2008-10-01 10:09:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Zombies + interesting twist = +2
Submitted by czwij (user info) at 2008-10-01 10:06:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
how come no one writes about asian zombies?
i want little yellow zombies with slanty eyes, damnit!
oh, uh.... good story
Submitted by sage104 (user info) at 2008-10-01 10:05:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Points for the Cranberries inference.
Submitted by monkeyswithguns (user info) at 2008-10-01 09:59:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I really liked the beginning quote.
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2008-10-01 09:51:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
huh, well, you know, learn something new everyday.
Submitted by F.J.Bell (user info) at 2008-10-01 09:46:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2008-10-01 14:44:00 BST (#)
Ranking: 2
zombies won't eat elephant men?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I thought everyone knew that.
Submitted by EmissionImpossible (user info) at 2008-10-01 09:45:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Good.
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2008-10-01 09:44:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
zombies won't eat elephant men?
Submitted by Banjo (user info) at 2008-10-01 09:36:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
more zombies... eeek!!!!
Submitted by RestrictionsApply (user info) at 2008-10-01 09:32:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by SgtHartman (user info) at 2008-10-01 08:51:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 Flasher