The Village of Dead Souls: A Zombie Novel (44 page)

"We are standing outside one of the dark tunnels. When we were human children, our parents often told us to stay away from these
caverns,
because Rans lived in them. As we grew older, we thought Rans were just a myth told to us so we
would
not stray from our village. No one had seen a Ran since the time of our grandparents and they were thought to have died out many years ago. But, after I drowned in the river, I found myself here
,
living with a tribe of the exact creatures of the legend. We have many stories of the humans attacking us with an unseen fire
,
so we keep ourselves hidden."

While staring in amazement at the landscape Prometheus asked, "If the war is over, why are we still here?"

General wrinkled his brow with puzzlement across his face. "We are here to pass our stings of life to the living. Only, we do not know how."

"We haven't passed our gifts to the humans?"

"If you fought in the war, would you not understand this as our mission?"

He turned to General with a bit of anger building up in his voice. "Where's Salsa?"

"Who?"

"Midnight? Patricia the lady pirate? General Brown? Greg the samurai warrior, are they still here?"

Dan glanced with confusion at the other primitively dressed members of his undead clan. "We have never heard of such people."

Prometheus suddenly realized something. "Wait, where is the old laboratory?"

"What is a laboratory?"

"Never mind. Where is the old city center?"

"Do you mean the ancient ruins? We have been told never to go there
, because
evil lurks in the darkness and shadows."

The Athenian grabbed Dan by the shoulders. "Why, why can't you go there? What evil is in the ruins?"

"The warning has been passed down for all these years to stay away. We do not remember the reason, only that evil is in the darkness."

"We need to go these ruins. I must see if the laboratory is still in place."

* * *

Prometheus and the animal skin re-ans approached what was left of the ancient city of
Denver
. Only the bare skeletal frames of a few buildings remained no higher than the first floor. They had been
completely encased
in green
vines
and
the
trees covered them to the point where they were difficult to see from a distance. The grounds which once bore the black asphalt streets and concrete sidewalks lay blanketed in a carpet of tall green grass which swayed in the wind
,
giving the illusion of ocean waves. Scanning the area to get a sense of where they were, Prometheus spotted a mound covered in
bushes, in
front of the remains of a brick corner section of a building. He pointed and said, "There, that has to be it."

As they walked toward the mound, General asked, "Tell me Prometheus from the Athens tribe, why are we in the forbidden grounds? I do not like being here as our elders warned us to stay away. It will not serve us well if we anger the gods."

"Your elders warned you to stay away
,
because this is where the dead lived.' He turned to his new friend. "You are one of the dead." He brought his attention back to the section of the building. "We are here to complete the prophecy."

"What prophecy?"

Walking around the mound, he saw the edge of a staircase leading into the ground hidden under a large rock. Pushing against the obstacle, he said, "Help me move this. The laboratory is down below.

With the rock out of the way, Prometheus answered General's question as they walked down the remains of the stairs. "At the beginning of the uprising, the K.C. from Golden brought us the prophecy from the Gods. I believe the final piece needed to fulfill it is down here." They carefully made their way through the dark cavern of rocks, tree roots, and scattered lab equipment covered with a century of dust and dirt. "It went like this
;
the soft colored song will carry the words of the chosen one. These words will be held silent for 100 years
,
until the one who holds the spark of the flame gives them to the children of the descendants."

As Prometheus pulled aside a curtain of roots and unveiled the stainless steel door to the walk-in freezer, General said, "I don't understand what this means."

"My good sister Salsa was the chosen one who could communicate with the humans. Her words were given to the soft colored song to hold for one hundred years." He pulled the door open and the interior light illuminated the room. General and his re-ans gasped at their first sight of white artificial light. A frosty mist rolled out of the freezer as Prometheus invited the others inside.

The
re-ans wearing
animal skin shivered and held their arms to their shoulders. General said, "It is like the days of white in here."

In the back of the freezer, the Athenian saw the frost covered frozen body of Pink. He pointed to her and said, "This lady is the soft colored song. Her name is Pink." He reached into her pocket, pulled out the video camera and held it up. "These are the words she held for one hundred years. We must
take
this to the humans."

* * *

Walking across the grassy meadow, under a bright clear sky,
General
and the others stopped while Prometheus continued toward the village. The sight of the living dead caused the villagers to scramble in a panic, between their grass and adobe huts. Mothers grabbed their children to keep them away from harm and the men gathered hunting spears and bows.

Entering a dirt path leading to the edge of the settlement, Prometheus held the video camera out in front of him. The men of the village formed a line across the entrance and held their
spear tips
out to stop the monster. A few feet from the trembling guards, he placed the camera on the ground
,
with the viewing screen toward the men
,
and
then he
pressed the power button.

Slowly backing away into the
meadow,
he heard Salsa's voice say, "Just keep it steady and point this end at our friend."

The men's
eyes
lit
up,
as they cautiously lowered their spears. One man slowly stepped toward the camera and picked it up. Prometheus backed away from the men and let them watch the video.

As the humans listened to Pink translate the moaning sounds of the re-ans, they relaxed their guard. At the end of the video, one of the village men cautiously walked away from the village entrance and approached Prometheus. Standing ten feet away he asked, "Can you understand me?"

"Yes."

The re-an
’
s answer startled the all the men guarding the entrance. Even though it sounded like a zombie moan to them, they understood the reply. Slowly, the man closest to the Athenian stepped forward and gently touched his shoulder. When the zombie did not attack or try to bite him, he asked, "So are you really here to help us?"

Prometheus nodded his head and smiled.

* * *

In the field outside the village, Prometheus and the zombies gathered with the villagers. The humans cautiously touched the re-ans who no longer appeared as monsters. Two of the men approached the Athenian escorting a woman from the village. They held up the video camera and played the section where Salsa kissed General Brown so he could understand the human language. One of the men asked, "If you do this with one of our women, would she understand your words and be able to pass the ability to the rest of us?"

Knowing they wouldn't be able to understand his verbal answer, he simply replied with a nod. He reached out his hand motioning for the woman to come closer. With hesitation in her steps, she moved toward the undead coerced slightly by the men. Expressing fear and extreme dislike, she closed her eyes tight and puckered her lips and face. Prometheus gently moved in and placed his dead lips against hers. The woman slightly relaxed her lips and allowed some of the dead man's saliva into her mouth. Not able to tolerate it any more, she pushed the re-an away.

Prometheus asked, "Can you understand my words?"

The woman's eyes opened wide with astonishment as she said, "I can understand the demon's
speech
."

With a smile, he replied, "My name is Prometheus and I lived a very long time ago."

* * *

As the humans kissed and passed the ability to speak all languages to each other, they happily engaged in conversations with the dead souls from the various time periods. Some of the more recent dead were able to talk to their families again. The gathering took on the atmosphere of a celebration.

General walked up to Prometheus and asked, "So they heard those words from your magic box and we will finally get to pass our life strings to them?"

"Yes, the end has finally come. The mission bestowed upon us by the gods has finally come to the final stage. Salsa showed us we could exchange this DNA by kissing. By the looks of our new friends
,
it appears possible for us to collect the strings in the same manner."

Prometheus saw a young woman dressed in the same type of clothing as the villagers
,
wandering
through the meadow with the appearance of being lost. He left the gathering to walk out to her and asked, "Greetings, what is your name and from where…what do you remember last?"

The young woman with long sandy colored hair tilted toward him with a bit of a quizzical stare. "I was standing at the fountain to gather a jar of water when the Spartans attacked. A brave man came to my defense
,
but
sadly,
he met his demise at the end of sword trying to protect my life. The soldiers pulled me away from him and
he
ran me through with a blade. After a brief and confusing talk with Zeus, I found myself here. It was only moments ago
that
I stood at the fountain. How can I be another land so quickly?"

A smile spread across Prometheus' face. "And, what is your name?"

"I am Gia."

He wrapped his hand around her forearm in the traditional Greek manner. "My name is Prometheus and I have a quite story to tell you."

THE END