Artificial Earth

                                 39

Route 11

         THE TOW TRUCK HAS JUST STARTED pulling the wreckage of the second vehicle. Patrol Officer Boon and his partner Willy were sitting inside their cruiser, drinking their coffee. Ned was inside the RV, fiddling with the Radio Ban while his father Randolf was outside talking with the rest of the Convoy.
       "Any News from anywhere?" Angela asked, sitting next to Ned.
       "Nothing yet, just static..." Ned replied, turning the knob on the radio.
        "Construction Crew's almost finish.." Angela said, looking out the windshield.
         "This is an emer.....static....Anyone.....static." A voice called out from the radio.
       "Hey! I think I got something!" Ned excitedly exclaimed.
          "Turn the knob back a bit.." Angela encouraged.
          "This is an emergency.....Anyone please....static......Anyone.....static.... Convoy on route 11...static.." the voice went.
        "Route 11...We're on route 11!" Angela said. " Turn the volume up..." Angela added, listening intently.
        "Hey maybe I could reach them..." Ned said, taking the radio's mic.
         "This is ummm...Ned. Can you hear me?" Ned said, using the mic.
         "Ned?....You from....static..." the voice went.
         "He heard me!" Ned exclaimed.
         "Go on..Ask him again.." Angela encouraged.
        'Hey! Ummm...I'm Ned.... We're here on route 11!"
         "Ned!...static....I want you...listen......We're headed your.....Must go back!....Twister's right behind us!...static."
     Angela heard the words clearly, "My God! We need to move, now!" she said, looking out the windshield.
        "Ned!....No time!...Do you...static...can't afford to stop...." the voice went.
        "We hear you!" Ned shouted back, looking at his mom.
         "Ned I want you to stay here while I get your Dad..." Angela ordered, pausing. "No, I'll go get your Dad, You go tell those officers to move out, tell them to head back towards First Lake." Angela calmly said, "Now Ned.." she added, heading for the door.

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Danvers Bar
8:35 a.m

           "Bring her over here!" Jenny ordered, clearing the sofa.
            "Is she alive?" Maria asked, looking over her husbands shoulder.
           "What happened? Did she fell or something?" John asked, moving back.
            "She's still breathing..." Joe said, carrying Cathy, placing her on the sofa.
             "Okay, I need you people to step back....I need a towel and tap water....Tommy...." Jenny said, checking Cathy's pulse.
             "On it..." Tommy replied.
           "You two go with Tommy, This time I don't want anyone and I mean anyone going off somewhere alone!" Joe inserted, motioning the couple to accompany Tommy. The couple nodded, walking away with Tommy.
       "What the hell happened?" Jake asked, standing gaurd near the hole they broke through.
        "We don't know, found her lying in the middle of the floor.... Won't get any answers 'till she wakes up." Joe replied, looking down at Cathy.
     "Bathroom window's open.....maybe she saw something..." Garth inserted, pointing the flashlight towards Cathy.
       "Urrgh,..." Cathy cried out.
        "Cathy....Can you hear me?" Jenny asked, gently tapping Cathy's face.
        "Ra..Ray!!!! Urrgh!!!" Cathy screamed then passed out again.
          "Cathy!" Jenny cried out, "Shit! She passed out again! Must be in shock..." she added.
       "What?  What's going on?" Tommy asked, walking over with a towel and a pail of tap water.
            "Thanks...." Jenny said, taking the towel and the pail from Tommy.
             "Who's Ray?" Rob asked, sitting next to Danver.
              "How's the old guy?" Jenny asked back, glancing at Danver.
      "Who ya calling old? Kids..." Danver inserted.
        "He's fine, a little hot though....Who's Ray?" Rob asked.
          "He's One of our friends who got killed earlier.....probably nothin' , Cats in shock..maybe imagining things.." Jenny replied, placing the damp towel on Cathy's forehead.
     "Aaah, I see....forgot about that.." Rob replied.
           "Killed? How?" Maria asked, sitting on one of the wooden chairs.
           "Long story....and I don't really want to talk about that right now." Jenny replied, standing up.
           "What now?" Jenny asked, looking around.
             "Well, Won't get any answers from the kid 'till she wakes up..." Garth said.
     "Until we know for sure...no one I repeat...no one goes off alone. If you people need to use the bathroom, you tell us, we go in groups." Joe pointed out.
   "What about privacy?" Maria asked.
   "We can't afford that...Whatever that thing is out there, it's hell bent on killing us all, that much I'm certain." Joe pointed out.
      "Okay, we stick together, move in groups, then what?" John asked.
      "Joe, I need the painkillers and anti biotics." Jenny said, cutting John.
       "I need to change Danvers dressing, and by now wound's probably infected, It's a miracle the old timer's still coherant." Jenny added, looking at Danver.
       "Old timer.....Geeez, Soup's cold! Tommy! Heat this soup for me will 'ya!" Danver exclaimed, holding the bowl of soup with his good hand.
    "Okay, barely coherant." Jenny said.
     "We'll get them, just have to be careful..." Joe replied, looking at Garth.
      "I better heat them soup up again." Tommy said, placing the bowl on a tray, taking the other two.
        "Maria, John, A little help?" Tommy asked, moving towards the kitchen, followed by the couple, carrying trays of their own.
       "Garth, Rob and I will go get them medicine..." Joe said, motioning for Garth and Rob to follow.
     "Jake.." Garth called out.
      "Yeah yeah, I know, I'll stay and keep watch. You guys be careful, and hurry back." Jake said, stifling a yawn.
   
      
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Necropolis

       
          LIEUTENANT ALEXA FERNANDEZ, Brick and Spoon sat silently in the dark, watching, unable to take their eyes away from the macabre procession taking place right in front of them. The stuff of nightmares, a million times magnified and made real. An unimaginable sight to behold, terrifying yet hypnotic, gruesome yet mesmerizing, unbelievable in every sense possible. Tonight's Storm unraveled one it's mysteries before them, arriving in a form so unexpected, and as darkness in itself holds many secrets, there is none more so terrifying as the march of the living dead.
     "Close the door." Alexa whispered, turning her back on the door.
      "Lieutenant..." Brick said, looking at his superior.
       "Impossible." Alexa whispered.
        "The girl we saw..." Spoon was about to ask, looking at Alexa.
         "I don't know." Alexa replied, putting both hands in her face.
           "Think she's one of them?" Spoon asked.
        "I don't know what to think." Alexa answered back.
          "How?" Brick asked.
           "How What?" Alexa asked back.
            "What we just saw..." Brick added.
             "I don't know." Alexa replied, obviously shaken.
             "I read something like this on the internet before..." Spoon said.
         "Go on..." Alexa encouraged.
          "Back on Earth, down in New Orleans I think,... A Voodoo Priest, performing a ritual and raising the dead." Spoon explained. "Says that the Voodoo Priest was able to resurrect a young boy who recently died, performing some sort of dark ritual. Says it takes a tremendous amount of faith and power for one to be able to bring life back. Never really believed any of that hocus pocus until now." Spoon added.
     "If it took all that faith and power to bring one child back...How much power do you think would it take to raise thousands?" Alexa asked.
      "A lot." Spoon flatly replied.
      "I still can't believe it...There's got to be a logical explaination.." Brick inserted.
    "Ssshh...Lower your voice.." Alexa warned.
      "Brick...see if they're still there." Alexa whispered. Brick slowly crawled forward and opened the door slightly, taking a look outside. A cold breeze entered the room, wind and rain could be heard outside. Brick finally closed the door then crawled back to where the others were seated.
   "They're still there...lots of them." Brick said.
     "What do we do?" Spoon asked.
      "I don't know.... I'm still too scared to think straight right now." Alexa admitted. "Can't risk the radio, those things might hear us." she added.
       "We must warn the others.." Brick said.
        "There must be a way to stop those things.." Spoon said.
         "We have to figure out a way to get out of here first, without being noticed." Alexa said.
     "That will be hard." Brick said
      "We plan this well before we attempt to do anything stupid, because if those...those...dead folks sees us....there definitely will be a lot of running involved....mud, rain, running....not good." Alexa pointed out.
       "Plus, We don't even know which way to run." Spoon added.
        "Well, that's easy....just run the opposite direction from those things." Brick said.
        "Let's focus on getting out of here undetected, shall we?" Alexa said, looking at both her companions.
      "What are our options? Any suggestions?" Alexa asked.
         "We could slither our way out one by one, be very quiet and move slowly towards the back. Just need to slowly open the door, enough for us to fit through, then... Slither." Brick suggested.
           "It might actually work..." Spoon said.
            "Okay, We Slither our way out....Now, What's our back up plan when things go wrong?" Alexa asked.
            "If things go wrong and those dead folks sees us....We run like maniacs for dear life." Brick suggested.

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Author's Note
     

            Hi Guys! Just finished another page! Thank You all so much for staying!!! Well, I hope Alexa and her team make it out unnoticed by the Living Dead.
       Please Vote,  Comment and Share the story with your friends, i'm pretty sure you'll have fun trying to guess what's gonna happen next. Thanks again!!!