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 Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 8:57 pm
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Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 8:21 pm
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Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 8:13 am
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Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 1:18 pm
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Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 12:03 pm
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Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 5:40 pm
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Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 2:11 pm
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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:03 am
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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:12 pm
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Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 2:00 pm
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Man of the Demoneye I'd say it's progressing nicely. I take it the doctor is going to be a main character now I would like something more to happen with Ridley, Eagle and Neil though, since they are the most known / relatable characters.
Yeah, the doctor is going to be a main character, but the main group is still going to be the main group. Here's a short chapter.
Chapter 7
Arthur Fields found Sherry's apartment to be stuffier than she herself. Furniture was modest were found and a bit dated in style, but he cared very little. Sherry dug through a crowded drawer attached to the desktop under her computer. She eventually pulled out a relatively compact old camcorder. It recorded straight to a detachable memory card and didn't have the best picture quality, but Arthur called it perfect. He quickly set up a place to record. He and Sherry turned on a few lights and tacked up a dark blue bed sheet on the wall behind a single wooden chair. Arthur's white coat contrasted well with the background, which was the idea. He ran his hand through his coarse, light brown hair a few times, smoothing it out a little. He pulled his coat taught and cleared his throat, then said, "Okay, start it up."
* * *
Eagle had been driving for the last half hour and the sky was blacker than soot. Ridley laid across the wide back seat and Neil rode shotgun, or katana in his case. The Pathfinder had been equipped, whether by factory installation or not, with a small screen for the radio that allowed it to tune into broadcasted television. This let the occupants finally see what the news media people were doing. Not much, as it stood. For the last two hours of driving the effort put into production had cut down drastically. The woman currently on screen had her hair in a mess and the top button undone on her blouse. She laid back in her seat as if at leisure while still relaying the events to millions.
"Not much has changed in the last half hour, but the estimated virus count is increasing. Government efforts to contain it have, well, hell, let's face it, there's no containment. It's getting all over the place. This hasn't seemed to dampen the spirits of the local National Guard men hanging out around the back of the building. We're pretty okay he--"
The woman looked off-screen a little and raised an eyebrow. A hand connected to a body not shown pushed a piece of paper onto the desk and the newswoman read it.
"Oh," she said, "it appears we have something. Dr. Arthur Fields of the Kansas City Center for Disease Control has apparently leaked a video about the virus outside the usual parameters. Let's take a look."
The woman sat there, smiling a little until her feed cut away and was replaced by a white-coated man in front of a dark blue backdrop. The picture was grainy in comparison to the previous footage, but it was easy to make everything out. Eagle and Neil looked at the screen as the trees passed by on both sides of the speeding vehicle.
"Hello," Arthur said. "My name is Arthur Fields. I worked as a pathologist in a large hospital in Maine after finishing my schooling but transferred five years ago to the Kansas City Center for Disease Control where I worked on identifying and examining infectious diseases. This information can all be found on the Internet. It's not anymore secret than one's MySpace page. What you won't find," he cleared his throat, "is that eighteen months ago I was contacted by a government official named Martin Havit who recruited me onto a medical project named Project Happenstance. Project Happenstance was, in a nutshell, a small team looking into alternatives to prosthetic limbs, primarily for wounded soldiers."
Eagle looked back in the vehicle and then at Neil.
"Think we should wake him up for this?"
Neil shook his head.
"They'll play it over and over. He'll see it when he wakes up."
Eagle nodded and looked back at the screen, careful to keep his eyes on the road enough. It was dark and too easy to screw up in the situation.
"The team began looking into species in nature that had the ability to regenerate lost limbs. An example is the sunfish sea star or Pycnopodia helianthoide. These creatures have anywhere from fifteen to twenty-six points, called rays, originating from a central body. These rays can be easily taxed by predators and the star is able to regrow them within a few weeks. It's an amazing design, really. We speculated on how well this could work in humans. Can the element that makes it possible for these simple stars be given to human beings? Well we tried for nine months before there was any sort of positive result. A man who had lost his foot from the shrapnel of an IED was able to, with Project Happenstance, regrow his foot. Admittedly it was somewhat deformed and had partial numbness, but it did work, and was quite fast compared to the sea star‘s ability.
"At least at first. Within a few hours the subject developed a somewhat decaying gray rash. We thought it was the body rejecting the created serum like it might a foreign organ. But after several tests we were unable to figure out exactly what was going wrong. The man's rash spread and his skin began to decay. His eyes reddened and he became hostile, and then violent. He attacked personnel several times. One young woman was bitten, but she didn't report it because the skin hadn't been broken.
"We were able to discover the curious way the serum worked with the man's white blood cells. They formed a sort of symbiotic bond that kept the virus alive by keeping the body alive, or at least mostly. In the latest stages of the virus, the body is little more than a host with the most basic motor skills. It blindly tries to carry itself forward, spreading itself to those without it. The regenerative effects of the original serum are present enough to keep the body from decaying from lack of nourishment and to keep it moving on, but as time goes it evens out to only letting the body shamble and stumble forward awkwardly."
Arthur took a deep breath and cleared his throat a little. He took a glass of water from off screen and took a sip, then looked back at the camera with pure, blank honesty in his face.
"Something must be said. And because no one else is, I must. There is no cure. I don't mean there won't be or can't be, but there isn't. Not now. I swear I won't rest until there is one. But I can't promise it will happen. That's why you must take precaution! Whether you run or hold up in your home, avoid this at all costs! And if it is necessary, do not hesitate to kill a holder of the virus. In the late stages of its effect, the carrier is near brain-dead. Be they family or friend, they will not remember you. They have no personality, no direction. They are hosts of the virus. Do not feel remorse. You must stay clean of this plague. Trauma to the brain of a carrier is the surest way to stop them, second being the heart. Even most vital organs if pierced or even destroyed may not stop a carrier for some minutes. You may not have minutes."
Fields looked off to the side again.
"Okay, this has gone on too long. Please, everyone, stay as safe as you can. Help each other, and... I am sorry for all of this. I really am. Please send this video to everyone you can. It may be pulled from websites and news stations shortly."
Fields nodded solemnly.
"God be with you, and with us all."
The footage was replaced by the woman in the newsroom who looked over a sheet of paper.
"Dr. Fields's tape has been uploaded to numerous video uploading websites across the Internet and emailed to news stations all over the country, ensuring a wide audience. The current viewer count of the YouTube video has reached over one million in the last fifteen minutes."
Eagle and Neil glanced at each other for a moment.
"Is that the truth, then?" Neil said. The Pathfinder continued on through the darkness with the newswoman's soft voice playing low under the hum of the engine and the air conditioner. Ridley, somehow, slept well. |
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Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 3:14 pm
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Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:54 am
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Man of the Demoneye Good so far. I was wondering what the cause of the disease was going to be. I like the thing with riding katana instead of shotgun. A little humor in a serious book could be a good thing as long as it isn't overdone.
I hoped the virus explenation didn't come off as complete BS and I guess it didn't...
Chapter 8
Ridley had gone to sleep in Kansas but woke up in Colorado. He rubbed his eyes against the harsh light he hadn’t noticed before and looked out the window. Evergreens rolled by along the roadsides and hazy, blue mountains showed in the distance as great big monuments to the state. Ridley smirked and said, "Hey Eagle, we’re not in Kansas anymore."
Neil and Eagle looked back at Ridley, then to the road once again.
"Ridley, wanna take over now? I’m friggin’ tired."
"Sure, pull over."
Eagle slowed down to a halt on the side of the road and hopped out. The air outside had filtered through a million old pines and been imbued with that fresh, almost Christmassy smell. Clean, without a hint of pollution, smog, or filth. Ridley stretched outside and took a few deep breaths. He shivered a little as Eagle crawled into the back seat and laid down. Neil didn’t get out, but he’d had the window open for a while, just looking outside. Ridley got into the driver’s seat and tapped the gas gauge with his finger.
"We don’t have much fuel left."
Neil didn’t take his eyes off the view, but said, "We’re on Interstate 70. We’ll get to Denver before we run out… hopefully."
Ridley started the Pathfinder and saw the news on. A woman was talking with a man about Dr. Fields’s video.
"You get any sleep, Neil?"
"A little bit, here and there."
"What’s this video they’re talking about?"
"Hm? Oh, that doctor guy leaked a video telling everyone the truth about the virus. They’ve been showing it all day. I’m sure they’ll show it again."
As if on cue, the man and woman cut away for the twenty-second replay of the video since midnight. Ridley tried to keep his eyes on the road, but watched intently. When it finished he said, "I’ll bet the government’s hunting him down like a dog right now…"
* * *
Arthur and Sherry had gone North towards Nebraska minutes after the video was put up everywhere it could be. They didn’t see or hear the government vehicles driving up to both of their residences or the shouts of "FBI, we’re coming in!" They had taken an old Volvo abandoned on a street-side with the keys in the ignition and, for lack of better phrasing, hauled a** North. Arthur sat in the driver’s seat with the Beretta on his right thigh, now wearing a pair of jeans and a tee shirt with a hooded sweatshirt over it. Sherry in the passenger seat had also changed, into a modest pair of earth-colored slacks and a v-neck blouse.
"So where are we going? Like, exactly?"
Arthur shrugged.
"I don’t know. Just away as quickly as we can. So I can find another place to research. If you want to be dropped off anywhere, you can tell me."
"No… no, I’m going to help you."
"You really want to?"
"No, but who else is going to?"
Arthur smiled and turned on the radio. His message was being played at the time and news people came on to discuss the government’s search for him. But the video hadn’t been pulled, there or anywhere. The government didn’t even try to get it off the air.
Maybe they think it’s pointless. Or maybe enough people wanted to say what I did but couldn’t…
* * *
Ridley slowed the Pathfinder to a halt a mile outside of Denver. The gray silhouettes of high-standing buildings was mucked up by dark plumes of smoke rising from various points.
"It’s on fire…?" Neil said.
"Could the virus have gotten this far already? Even ahead of us?"
"Should we turn back?"
Ridley said, "No, let’s keep going," even though he knew he shouldn’t have. He sped up along I-70 for the last mile stretch and didn’t slow until the city limits. The black smoke overpowered the clean air smell and car alarms sounded in the distance, echoing off buildings. A few people screamed, horns honked, and a few gunshots rung out. Ridley eased the vehicle up the street and took a turn to find traffic backed up once again, half the vehicles empty and half inhabited. A disturbed-looking individual ran out from behind a building and hammered at the windshield of the car two up from Ridley’s. The window started to crack in a spider web pattern as the occupying woman screamed for her life.
Ridley grabbed the handle of the .22 revolver, but stared at the crazed man for several seconds. Neil looked at him just as he jumped out and ran a few steps forward, gun outstretched.
"Stop!"
The infected man pounded a few times more until he looked over at Ridley. But his mind didn’t think, "There’s a man with a gun, he wants me to stop, I should do that or risk my life." He thought, "he doesn’t have it, I need to give him it!" He stumbled forward into a somewhat epileptic jog. Ridley fired, but the infected man kept running. He fired again and again and twice more until he aimed a careful shot at the head. The infected man dropped to the ground, head landing a few inches from Ridley’s feet like his On/Off switch had been flicked in an instant. Ridley took a few deep breaths and tried to calm his heartbeat. His hands were shaking and he almost dropped the gun. When he turned around he saw Neil with the bow outside the passenger seat, an arrow knocked, string pulled all the way back.
Neil slowly let the tension off the string as Ridley stared into the distance.
"Ridley, look out!"
Ridley snapped back to reality for a moment, looking at Neil, but nothing registered in his mind.
"Get down!" Neil shouted, yanking the string back to the rear. Ridley dropped and Neil let the arrow go, flying into the eye socket of another gray-skinned, wild-eyed man stumbling up behind Ridley. The man struck the ground as the arrow hit and his skull made a sickening crunch on the pavement. This time Ridley was awake. He turned back and ran for the Pathfinder where Eagle was awake in the backseat with the shotgun’s stock to his shoulder and the barrels pointing out the open window. Neil tossed the bow behind the seats and jumped in just as Ridley gunned the engine and made a tight U-turn.
"We’ve gotta get out of here," he said. "Neil, reload this for me. And… thanks."
Neil took the revolver and looked at it. He tried pressing the little nub on the side of the gun and the cylinder opened up to the side. He pressed on the little rod extending from the back and the ten little cartridges fell out in his hand. Ridley dug into his pocket and held out a handful of fresh cartridges that Neil dropped into the recesses of the cylinder, then closed it again and handed it back.
"What do we do?" Neil said. "Maybe we could go north."
Eagle in the backseat pulled the shotgun back from the window and put it across the seat.
"It’ll be clogged there, too!"
Ridley gripped the steering wheel hard and pulled over on the side of the road.
"We might have to get through. If we do maybe the road will open up. It’ll be just as bad everywhere else we can try. s**t! This isn’t going right."
Ridley took a few deep breaths and headed for a side road.
"And we’re about to run out of gas. Jeez, uh, Eagle, stand up through the sunroof with that shotgun. Neil, can you shoot that bow out a window or something?"
"I can try," he said, taking a fistful of arrows and awkwardly poking the strung bow out the window until he could grip it in the middle. He held his body at a harsh angle out the window, top-half sticking out and up with the bow gripped tight. Eagle stood up through the open sunroof and held the double-barrel tight into his shoulder with the box of shells within reach.
"Okay guys," Ridley said, "let’s get some ******** gas."
(Please excuse the crass language.) |
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Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 10:12 am
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Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:37 pm
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Man of the Demoneye ArmasTermin Man of the Demoneye Good so far. I was wondering what the cause of the disease was going to be. I like the thing with riding katana instead of shotgun. A little humor in a serious book could be a good thing as long as it isn't overdone. I hoped the virus explenation didn't come off as complete BS and I guess it didn't... No, at least it was founded in science and not magic or something. It could have something about infecting the brain as well too. Also, the attack was well done.
wasn't project happenstance the same basic thing from the first story that I really liked? |
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Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 9:35 pm
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Sgt Buckner Man of the Demoneye ArmasTermin Man of the Demoneye Good so far. I was wondering what the cause of the disease was going to be. I like the thing with riding katana instead of shotgun. A little humor in a serious book could be a good thing as long as it isn't overdone. I hoped the virus explenation didn't come off as complete BS and I guess it didn't... No, at least it was founded in science and not magic or something. It could have something about infecting the brain as well too. Also, the attack was well done. wasn't project happenstance the same basic thing from the first story that I really liked?
Yeah, pretty much. I'm recycling ideas from the first two and expanding on them greatly. |
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