The God Of The Undead

What is the Fear? According to a dictionary, it is an unpleasant, often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger. 

Many people believe that fear is different for everyone and that we all perceive it as something different in the end. My fear is, of course, coming head to head with the big a.s.s skeleton monster that took down my old army base 3 years ago. Most other survivors don't believe me, and they never will, but in the end, I did have few people who believed in me a hundred percent. 

It wasn't just blind devotion toward me for saving their lives throughout the years as it was they too had come into contact with various monsters. Although none were undead like the one I fought, some were just out of fantasy books as some were fire giants several stories high, and others were monsters like The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Everyone had come into contact with some kind of monster over the years, and other than mine, none seemed to have tried to kill them. It was almost the exact opposite as most seem to have tried to ignore anything human and only openly fought against the undead.

"Hey Rudy, the man's asking for proof that we're from Black Site; give it to him so we can enter and rest." The woman next to me in the passenger side seat says while smacking my shoulder to wake me from my stupor.

The woman next to me is non-other than my significant other, Gertrude Jones, the woman I'm choosing to live out the rest of the apocalypse with. She was originally a civilian who had made it the supposed safety and protection of the fence that surrounded my former military base before that giant black skeleton of doom came crashing down in the middle of the base. She was originally one of many people lucky enough to have made it to an evacuation bus before the massive hordes of undead that hid within the tree line converged onto the base after the pitch-black skeleton monster began to get it's a.s.s kicked by what I came to believe was an angel. 

I gave the man station at the heavily guarded guard post the unique combination of passwords that all those who chose to be apart of The Human Resurgence Coalition came to know. It was a safety measure to keep bandits and other uncooperative safe havens from sneaking in and stealing and sabotaging the things we need. It's really a shame, to be honest, even during times like these, we as humanity still try to f.u.c.k each other over instead of coming together to fight a common enemy. 

After driving through the security gate, I drive towards a couple of houses that I've parked at many times after becoming a transporter/ guard for Blacksite 38. As Gertrude and hop out of the truck, we head towards one of the guest houses meant for traders and transporters like me and settled down inside. This haven was directly centered around a large gated suburban housing area, making it almost the best place for survivors to go, especially since the large unfinished dog parks made it easy to grow crops. If we weren't already settled down in Black Site 38 with a kid we chose to look after, we would've been moved here.

The only thing holding us back was the fact that I had come into contact with the black skeleton monster. As I told my story to those at Black Site, they led me to an old man who told me a f.u.c.k ton of things about what it was and why the world was the way it was now. At some point, I became one of their lieutenants in charge of transportation of supplies and information. Mainly my job was to keep tabs on all information concerning the giant black skeleton, known as John, and secondly a transporter/guard, but my primary purpose was to remain a secret as not many people believed James stories, especially other coalition leaders.

After getting settled in a room of one of many spare houses, me and Gertrude chose to lay in bed since it was already getting late. We had to hit the road again first thing in the morning to avoid most of the early morning monster fights. They often fought on main roads where hordes of undead roamed or stood as if waiting for a meal to wander near. 

Gertrude plopped down next to me with a face that said she was tired, making me feel down since I couldn't get any, but it was for the best since our morning starts early. As lay down on the stained but freshly hand washed pillow, I turn my head to see Gertrude staring at me quizzically. Usually, when she looked at me like this, she was wondering what was on my mind, but with her, sometimes it meant the opposite.

"Babe, what's wrong? I know that look, and it can mean only one or two things." I said, but before I could continue, she cuts me off.

"I've been thinking for a while. Why don't we try our chances with the Cult of the Damned?" She asks with a face that says more than her question. 

It's not the first time she's asked me that question, and I'll doubt it'll be the last. She's been intrigued by that cult since we arrived at Black Site and learned about them and their pros and cons from other survivors. It wasn't just some off the wall curious fascination, I know why she wants to head there, and it pulls at my heart every time I tell her that it won't give her back what she's lost.

Back in the military base, before we hooked up, she was a mother of "1," and there's a reason for the way I say it that way. See, before this all started, she had 3 children, ages 9 to 12, and on her way to evacuating to the military base where she thought she could find shelter as she described it, a giant black undead dogs the size of a school bus snatched one in its jaws and crushed the other. The only way they made it out was by covering the mouth of her last child with tears running down her face. At the same time, she hid as silently as she could until a patrol squad from the military base found them while looking for survivors and supplies. Now during the time that John was getting his a.s.s handed to him, and I made my escape to the last evacuation buses they were still loading everybody on when the zombies overran the base, some survivors got the doors shut on them by scared drivers. While Gertrude and I were lucky to have made it on one, her last child got separated from her and was one of the many people left outside the buses as the drivers pulled off.

Although It broke many hearts to have left their loved ones to die, it brought a few a small relief when something akin to a nuke went off at the base, destroying everything and leaving nothing behind. Some found solace in knowing that their loved ones wouldn't have to experience being eaten and torn apart and then becoming apart of the undead legion. On the other hand, there were a boatload of people like Gertrude, who was devastated when everything went down that day. Even I was down and depressed when I looked back saw how my life flashed before my eyes as I peered into the eyes of John when he was about to finish me off. If I ever meet that bird bitch I'll happily lend a hand to her when it comes to fighting the undead.

"Look... Gertrude, no matter how many times you ask, I'll say no. They are the same people worshipping the things out there killing us on a daily basis. How many times will they have to take the things you love before you have nothing again. I'm sorry to have to remind you of the past this way, but it's better to remind you and be cautious then running towards death. Think about Susie; think about the little girl that sees you as a mother after losing her big sister 2 years ago. Right now, the cult is way off the table, and I doubt I'll ever put near it if things ever go south." I said dead-eyed, looking at Gertrude while she shifted from being confused to teary-eyed and lastly to face that showed she saw my reasoning and once again understood that it was better to try and move on and live for the present and future.

Gertrude understood my rough and straightforward way of speaking was better than a soft and sugar-coated refusal with sprinkles of white lies. She only asked repeatedly because of the rumors of the cult being capable of bringing the souls and mind back to the dead to live peacefully with their loved ones. People like me who were skeptical of the cult's propaganda believed this to be a lie and an especially tempting and hard to see lie. It was better than believing that a mysterious cult that magically appeared during an apocalypse could offer some kind of salvation. I personally believed they were adding people to the undead legions for the hell of it.

After talking for a while about our future in Black Site, we dozed off to sleep to the oddly and eerie silence of the safe haven. It was only when we heard the explosion that also shook the house did I wake back up to find the shade and curtains dyed in orange light followed by screams of terror. From the clock on the wall running on salvaged and recharged batteries, I could see that it was 5 minutes past 10pm.

I quickly check for Gertrude to only find she was standing at the other window peeking with fear. She was shaking with fear so much that I could have sworn I had went to sleep and woke up 6 years in the past in Vegas watching a poorly trained stripper shake for what nickels and dimes should get from lonely old pervs getting small boners from her young appearance. 

I quickly get up and look through the same set of blinds she was looking through and saw the horror outside. Through the many flames, we could see both massive and regular-sized undead that looked like they were special variants like John or what James described as spiderlings. Some looked like massive spiders, while some looked like 8 feet tall bodybuilders that were doped on steroids with little to no jaw at all ( a/n yea, I just made a left 4 dead reference along with a reference to dead frontier as well.)

With many more variants, I quickly ducked and pulled Gertrude down with me as I saw some very big and long moving across the other house. I was sure but I swear I saw it looking at me.