After the Pandemic: Genocide (12): Diaspora (935 hits)
Category: Quotes & StoriesLabels: After_the_Pandemic
Rating: 1.77 on 22 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Axolotl (View user info) at 2006-03-27 09:19:04 EST
Jack McCallum's Introduction - http://www.ubersite.com/m/61238
After the Pandemic: Genocide (1): The Variants - http://www.ubersite.com/m/79933
After the Pandemic: Genocide (2): The Armory - http://www.ubersite.com/m/80119
After the Pandemic: Genocide (3): Times Square - http://www.ubersite.com/m/80429
After the Pandemic: Genocide (4): The Highbridge - http://www.ubersite.com/m/80522
After the Pandemic: Genocide (5): Stars and Stripes Forever - http://www.ubersite.com/m/80836
After the Pandemic: Genocide (6): Against the Grain - http://www.ubersite.com/m/80897
After the Pandemic: Genocide (7): Infiltration - http://www.ubersite.com/m/81839
After the Pandemic: Genocide (8): The Crucible - http://www.ubersite.com/m/82506
After the Pandemic: Genocide (9): Justice Under God - http://www.ubersite.com/m/83249
After the Pandemic: Genocide (10): The Feeding - http://www.ubersite.com/m/84178
After the Pandemic: Genocide (11): The Battle Cry of Freedom - http://www.ubersite.com/m/84551
All right now...it's Monday...we have to take back Uber with good posts.
...
At least for a few days. I'm making a compilation of the best posts on Ubersite, does anyone have any suggestions?
Enjoy the Pandemic.
(One week until my birthday!)
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PART TWELVE - Diaspora
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The air was cold in the early hours of late September. The suburban streets were deserted as Michael Benkosky and Jennifer Grant walked down, nearing the Hackensack River bridge, where the final bastion of humanity in North Jersey lay.
Michael carried an M14 rifle, and trooped through the streets quietly in his National Guard uniform, while Jennifer cradled a long knife under her jacket. The air was silent, but far away the burning smell of flesh and wood could be discerned from the armory.
"The armory is under attack," Michael said blankly.
Jennifer nodded. They continued down Cedar Lane, having cleared the last populated places. There weren't any stubborn holdouts in any of these ruined domestic houses, holed-up in their basements with shotguns. Jennifer and Michael were the only humans in the area.
"I lived around here," Jennifer said to Michael. "It's changed..."
"I was from Burlington, in Vermont," Michael replied. "It was beautiful. It really was, but we're so far away now. At least I've killed nobody except zombies so far...though they were once like us."
"Over there," Jennifer said, pointing to a dessicated building with faded cutouts of pickles. "Picklelicious. It opened up...oh, five, six years ago. Sold the greatest pickles in Bergen County, that was their gimmick."
They passed by the abandoned building, thinking that when the battle moved onward, there would be little left of it. The townhouses and wooded roads of the Palisades Ridge were afire and blasted away by mortars and the destruction of total war. In the Overpeck River valley of Ridgefield Park, Teaneck and Englewood, the National Guard exchanged shots and bayonet with the thrust of zombies penetrating through the suburbs.
"Everything was so beautiful..."
* * *
Along McLean Avenue in south Yonkers the final battalions of the 3rd New York Armored Brigade retreated in utter defeat through the roads of the once-densely-populated urban region. It was a heavily-Irish area, and many of the soldiers in the Fighting 69th Regiment battling the zombies outside Rory Dolan's Irish Pub and Grill knew the place well.
From the apartments and ice cream parlors lining the opposite side of the road zombies attacked in suicidal droves, the first ranks unarmed, just used as cannon fodder. "Take the armored cars and clear out that sector down the road," said the mud-caked captain, a veteran of Fallujah. "Get the SAWs on the apartments!"
The SAW machine guns began firing through the windows, blowing huge chunks out of the apartment's brick façade. The bullets cut the zombies in half, severing their heads and limbs. With rifle and grenade the battalion held back the zombies as armored cars with mounted machine guns drove through the road, pocked with Variant C bullets.
"They're breaking through! It's no use!"
"Retreat!" the captain called. "We'll make our stand at Westchester!"
* * *
"In springtime, we'd all go down to the campus and hang out on the grass, playing Frisbee with each other," Jennifer said. "Someone would bring a dog, and the professors would get angry and try to kick them out. Spring was dancing, happiness, being with friends, love...the smell of flowers was on the air, and we'd try to see the first bee, or the first cardinal of the season for luck. The spring would bring warm weather, where we could sit outside and just be happy to be alive..."
* * *
Tobias ripped open a young man's throat with his sharpened fingernails and in a quick instant put his mouth over his neck, careful not to waste any blood. He sucked the sweet salty fluid from the man's carotid; he struggled for a moment, but the tremendous dizziness set in, and he fell unconscious.
The blood ran like buttery cream down Tobias' gullet, and he dropped his exsanguigated prey, hunched over like an animal, his face contorted in hatred and rage. He surveyed his landscape of hell and violence, and roared in triumph.
The Variant C zombies were working the crowd in a gruesome manner. Led by the brutal ex-office worker Marcia Thorpe, the zombies were systematically exterminating or infecting the refugees.
The humans cowered against the walls, helpless against the physically strong zombies as they were dismembered and consumed bloodily. The living watched the dead slaughtered like sheep, only to be cut down by sword or bare hands moments later.
A worse fate was reserved for the ones that were to be infected. Father Robertson was leading the "recruitment effort" by overseeing the Variant C's painful infection process. A zombie would grab a civilian, and administer a torturous bite or slash to the prey. After writhing in agony on the blood-soaked floor, they would arise, saturated with urine and ichor, their bodies rejecting the virus.
After an extended, painful process, the vomiting would cease, and the humans would rise, reborn as zombies of a certain Variant. The Variant C's were in control of most of their faculties, but the Variant As were nothing more than drooling mongoloids, devoid of any soul or power.
* * *
Jennifer sighed as they approached Hackensack Bridge and said, "Summer was joy, the high point of the year. We were off school, but we all worked somewhere. I took a job as a cashier at a liquor store; it was nice to be able to earn something, to make a difference somewhere, at least. We'd go to the town pool after work, walking down, our group of friends, and just relax by the water's side."
She continued, "We'd go down the shore to Tom's River to see relatives, and the beach, and the boardwalks. I remember last summer so well...it really was only a few weeks ago, wasn't it? Such lazy days, those sweet nights of freedom and fireflies, sitting out on the porch with warm beer in the soft summer rain, our sandals hanging off our feet as the lights of planes flew overhead, shining in the sky over Newark Airport..."
* * *
"Mr. President, the zombies have broken through on all fronts," Steven Marquez, the Secretary of Defense, said in a tense rush. The war cabinet was in Hackensack, along with Vice President Effinger, and Secretary of State Amy Dupont. In the seat of government for one of the richest counties in America, the leaders of the free world could foresee the free world's downfall.
"What's the status?" said Vice President Russell Effinger, ignoring the fact that President Derringer was opening his mouth to speak.
"Long Island is completely taken by the zombies. The Bronx is overrun, and the National Guard is retreating from Yonkers up through Westchester and the White Plains, all the way up to Tarrytown," said Marquez. "The 10th and 28th Divisions are holding up in Bergen County with the rest of the NJ National Guard, but the Variant C have assaulted and taken the strong point of the Teaneck Armory. It is assumed that all inside are dead, or have become zombies. That was several thousand people."
"No..." Derringer said.
"This evening," continued Marquez. "General John Blunt will arrive from North Carolina with the 82nd Airborne, and attempt a drop into Levittown, Long Island. But the zombies are spreading through the region like wildfire, even across the Meadowlands. The refugees in Giant's Stadium and the Continental Arena are fighting for their lives with the 642nd Air Support Battalion of the New York National Guard, but it is unlikely they'll survive."
"So what are we looking at here?" asked Effinger rabidly, knuckles white on his chair.
Marquez cleared his throat awkwardly and replied, "The zombies maintain a presence on the Palisades and Meadowlands, and will soon break through the line of troops to spread through New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The Variant C in Yonkers will spread up the Hudson River Valley to Upstate New York, and westwards to New England. Mr. Vice President, we're looking at total war, chaos."
Vice President Effinger relaxed his body and said simply, "We'll ready the nuclear arsenal." Standing up stock-straight, he sighed, closed his eyes, and breathed, "Fuck."
President Derringer said nothing.
* * *
The Hackensack River flowed quietly down from Upstate New York, winding through Bergen County and bubbling through the border of Teaneck and Hackensack, hissing under the bridge, unaware of the death and destruction facing its home. Michael and Jennifer saw a small group of armored cars and machine gunners up ahead, and they crouched behind the bushes.
"Help!" Michael cried out. "We're not zombies! Let us step into the light!" Turning to Jennifer, Michael said, "I'll go first."
In the dim light of the moon, Michael stepped out in range of the armored cars. He waved his hands in the air and walked slowly toward the soldiers. "Michael Benkosky, 86th Vermont. I'm stranded from my unit, and I have a civilian with me. I'm not a zombie."
"117th Cavalry, step closer to us with the civilian, but not too fast," replied an officer. Jennifer hesitantly joined Michael, wondering if they would see through Michael's deception, and realize that he was a Variant C.
"Autumn was my favorite time of year. It was wet, dreary, and sad, actually, but I loved it so well. I'd leave my house, just walking around town, and hear the crinkle of the leaves under my feet. It would rain, as it usually did in that season, and the smell of the ozone and wet leaves would be the sweetest scent I've ever felt. The thunder would crack in the air, and my dogs would hide in bed with me. I'd sit out on the porch, listening to the patter of the rain on the grassy earth, and feel at peace."
* * *
Tobias and Von Dorn walked through Teaneck's suburbs, where Michael and Jennifer had walked just hours before. It was an hour past daylight, and the rising sun gave its sweet light upon the blessed earth. Von Dorn, a grim, grey-haired Variant C, shouldered his rifle and stepped up a little ahead of Tobias.
"Where will we attack next, lord?" he asked. "Hackensack, or Riveredge?"
"The humans' center of power is in Hackensack," Tobias said laconically. "If we break them there, they have no escape, and we will go on to Paterson, and seize everything in the Saddle River Valley."
They walked onward a little more. Behind them was a troop of armored zombies, clad in black metal and carrying bent swords and rifles. Further up ahead was a green, dewy in the morning mist.
Tobias and Von Dorn stepped out onto the small plain, and saw the Hackensack River flowing past the rocky banks. The Hackensack Court House, grim and foreboding, loomed in the distance, and the opposite bank was devoid of any soldiers.
"You know, Tobias, that eventually we will run out of humans," Von Dorn said.
"I know."
"When the last human is killed, the Variants must die also. It is our fate."
"I know. We all must die. It is something that I have realized," Tobias said. "We'll make the most of everything while we can. Die we must, and die we will."
Tobias stood on the banks of the Hackensack and looked out toward his next target. He would bring his entire host to bear along these very waters, and the slaughter would be immense.
"I control every zombie in New Jersey and New York," Tobias said. "I am the lord of millions, and I can decide the fate of every human within two hundred miles, if I wish."
Victory was his.
* * *
"In the wintertime, everything iced over. You couldn't walk outside for two minutes without getting frozen solid by the freezing temperatures. We would go skating down at the Hackensack Ice Rink when the weather was a little warmer, and play outside in the snow, burying one another and having snowball fights. We'd sled down the hills by the Overpeck, laughing in the happiness of one another's company."
"At Christmastime, our family would come to see us, all the way from Ireland or California. Christmas Eve we'd open up our presents all together, all of us, sitting in the living room next to the tree. The dogs would lie on the floor in the midst of all of us, content that everything was at peace in the world."
"When it snowed, everything would be darkness and blank space. I'd walk outside in the swirling snowstorm and feel as though I was the only person alive on the earth. The loneliness was amazing; it really made me feel like I was part of some greater good, as though there was a God in heaven smiling upon us."
* * *
In McLean Avenue in Yonkers, a retreating soldier, nineteen years of age, fell with a curved blade in his back. The zombie, his killer, swiped his sharpened fingernails across the soldier's neck, killing him instantly. He went down on him to consume his flesh.
* * *
"It makes me sad to think it'll never be like that again..."
* * *
Before it was dusk on Thursday, the 25th of September, the zombies had spread through Upstate New York in a flash. Tarrytown fell to the Variant Cs around noon, as did Hartford, Connecticut. Rochester and Poughkeepsie fell at three in the afternoon; an hour later, the strong points of Connecticut and Rhode Island were dominated by the zombies. Millions more were added to Tobias' ranks.
In Boston, the last remaining major city, the citizens, police and soldiers prepared for battle to the death. Planes were evacuating important people to South Dakota and Indiana, but all over the country there were scattered reports of Variant C activity.
At sundown, Albany was taken by the Variant Cs. That night, the zombies crossed over the St. Lawrence to Canada. The attack was brutal, strong, and fast. The perimeter around Boston had not yet been breached, but there wasn't a single defender of humanity from the Hudson River all the way up to Maine.
Michael Benkosky and Jennifer Grant, in the midst of this apocalypse, found a room in a Hackensack boarding house to stay the night in. They had decided amongst themselves to find a car, and leave for Pennsylvania first thing the next morning.
President Derringer and his cabinet met with General Tom Riley of the 42nd Division, who informed them that NORAD had been relocated from Troy, due to the heavy zombie presence in that city. The concentration of soldiers in Hackensack prepared for the final battle. The 82nd Airborne Division arrived from North Carolina to Newark, and prepared to do a drop into Connecticut. They would not survive.
"What would the people say if I should resign?" President Derringer asked. He and the Vice President were in a private room in the Hackensack Court House.
"Go ahead, John," Effinger replied. "I can handle this. Go to Colorado, under the mountains, to the safe zone. I can stay here. I will bomb these sons of bitches so badly I'll make North Vietnam look like a mud puddle."
"I can't do it, Russell," President Derringer sighed. He looked over at his VP, and saw that Effinger was carrying a pistol at his side.
"I have it under control, John."
User Reviews
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2006-04-09 22:13:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
p.s. take back uber
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2006-04-09 22:11:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Hey, buhhh-dy. Just catching up.
Okay! So. The 'voiceover' thing you did, with Jennifer (it was jennifer, right?) talking about happier times while you juxtapose the horror of the current situation on top -- I see what you were trying to do, but I don't know that it worked out. That stuff works well in movies and television, but I imagine it's really hard to translate that into the written form.
And I'm not quite convinced about this nuking thingee. I think the gub-ment would be more likely to drop a lot of less-radioactive bombs on the problem first. Like, a LOT of bombs.
As a whole, I think this story needs a little more direction. I'm not sure who the main characters are (i guess it's michael and jennifer by default), or what the story is really about, you know? I know it's about the zombie invasion and so forth, but it seems a little scattered. Maybe because this post seemed to be gathering up all the threads as a kind of reminder.
Anyway, I'm very tired and dopey. On to the next one.
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-03-31 12:56:39 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
These reviews crack me up.
Poor New Orleans...
Submitted by awesome_face (user info) at 2006-03-31 12:49:24 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
My semen that flooded New Orleans has spread to the gulf. Thousands of Cubans swimming in the gulf perished to my semen.
Now this is a pandemic.
Submitted by ConorJS (user info) at 2006-03-29 17:55:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I was once in a band called the Fighting 69th...
Submitted by Benny (user info) at 2006-03-27 21:58:00 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I am happy that you have continued this series. I'm looking forward to the next instalment (especially since you are sure that its going to be a good one).
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-03-27 18:28:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by HadToBeDone (user info) at 2006-03-27 17:50:36 (#)
Ranking: 1
I know you'll start kicking ass again. Hence the +1, my young Padawan.
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The asskicing shall commence tomorrow, with installment #13.
But I must do work now. Chemistry beckons.
Submitted by HadToBeDone (user info) at 2006-03-27 17:50:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I know you'll start kicking ass again. Hence the +1, my young Padawan.
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-03-27 17:36:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by ghola (user info) at 2006-03-27 17:18:29 (#)
Ranking: 2
i seriously need to go back and reread these.
glarg.
----
I have been very lazy. I started last November, and still have four more installments to go.
Soon, though, soon.
Submitted by ghola (user info) at 2006-03-27 17:18:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
i seriously need to go back and reread these.
glarg.
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-03-27 17:03:40 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2006-03-27 15:57:53 (#)
Ranking: 2
i get what everyone's saying...these aren't as "WOW" inspiring as the first 5 or 6 were.
it's kind of formulaic...zombies kill humans because they're tough and kill people easily. humans scatter and are killed off.
if your purpose is to set a despair tone, you've done very well. with VCs everywhere, pretty much the whole world is fucked. i don't know how they'll get out of this one.
but i hope yo do.
anyway...shoot me an email: timdowning.at.gmail.com
i have an idea for a story that i t hink is pretty good, but i'm nowhere near good enough to write it. i've tried 4 or 5 times, and it just comes out shitty.
good work. keep it up.
take back uber
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There will be a way out...the despair tone was purposeful, but there WILL be a way out...
I'll email you now. I'll see what I can do.
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2006-03-27 15:57:53 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
i get what everyone's saying...these aren't as "WOW" inspiring as the first 5 or 6 were.
it's kind of formulaic...zombies kill humans because they're tough and kill people easily. humans scatter and are killed off.
if your purpose is to set a despair tone, you've done very well. with VCs everywhere, pretty much the whole world is fucked. i don't know how they'll get out of this one.
but i hope yo do.
anyway...shoot me an email: timdowning.at.gmail.com
i have an idea for a story that i t hink is pretty good, but i'm nowhere near good enough to write it. i've tried 4 or 5 times, and it just comes out shitty.
good work. keep it up.
take back uber
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-03-27 15:03:20 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by HadToBeDone (user info) at 2006-03-27 14:35:33 (#)
Ranking: 1
I've really liked most of these, but the last couple have seemed kind of disjointed. Unfortunately, I can't tell ya how to fix that...
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I know what you mean. About two or three entries ago, I was a bit out of it, and was just doing them out of a sense of duty. With the last one, this one, and all ones after this, I'm going to try.
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-03-27 15:02:16 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2006-03-27 13:55:34 (#)
Ranking: 2
NUKE EM ALREADY
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SOON SOON JONNY
Submitted by HadToBeDone (user info) at 2006-03-27 14:35:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I've really liked most of these, but the last couple have seemed kind of disjointed. Unfortunately, I can't tell ya how to fix that...
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2006-03-27 13:55:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
NUKE EM ALREADY
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-03-27 13:12:52 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by HadToBeDone (user info) at 2006-03-27 13:03:46 (#)
Ranking: 1
These are starting to lose me, and I'm not sure why. It may just be that you don't seem to have that same creative oomph or something, but nothing is catching me by surprise.
B for effort?
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I thought this was one of the better ones. My last few were done in a bit of a rush, but I took the time out for this one.
Maybe it was just that nothing was happening, they just evacuated, and things were getting ready...
The next one will be good, though.
Submitted by HadToBeDone (user info) at 2006-03-27 13:03:46 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
These are starting to lose me, and I'm not sure why. It may just be that you don't seem to have that same creative oomph or something, but nothing is catching me by surprise.
B for effort?
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-03-27 10:44:02 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
This is a bad day.
Submitted by scornednornery (user info) at 2006-03-27 09:33:13 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
... for appropriate use of 'exsanguigated', et al.
Good post.
Submitted by simple_catalyst (user info) at 2006-03-27 09:31:24 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
from zombies right?
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-03-27 09:23:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
TAKE BACK UBER