The undeath scriptures o.., p.1
The Undeath Scriptures: Origins, page 1
The Undeath Scriptures
Origin
By Ian Woodhead
Six Months Before
This closet-sized room now held just three remaining delegates. Judging from the muffled retching noises seeping through the thin wood, the last man to stumble over Isaac’s long legs failed to make it to the toilet in time.
Two of the remaining three men shifted in their plastic seats, were they wishing to join in with the vomit party still being held in the corridor?
“Let he who wears their weakness as a badge be the one to know their sin is grave and marked forever,” murmured Isaac.
The official from the Ministry of the Interior would probably be the next fool to flee the room. His stony expression had not altered, the old goat was too proficient in political duplicity to allow his face to reflect his secret thoughts. Isaac had had made his prediction simply through observation, his complexion now matched the colours of the walls.
Isaac found it ironic and a little pitiable to witness the individuals who’d originally approved the funding of such unconventional weaponry was unable to stomach watching the practical implementation of the product they were initially so eager to develop.
The lights dimmed for the last time. This was it, the time for the remaining demonstration. Thoughts concerning the other delegate’s reactions were brushed aside along with all other irrelevances. One of the senior technicians had already hinted of the delights to be seen once the one-way mirror was revealed. He had probed, of course, but the technician refused to clarify. That young man’s destiny offered a brighter future to being sub-servant to a bunch of pasty-faced civil servants, ironic, considering the stuffed suits had no future. That thought made Isaac smile. They had no future but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t have a role in Isaac’s grant plans.
The surroundings took on a muted pale green as the light from the next room shone through the one-way mirror. Isaac leaned forward, he did not want to miss any detail. The interior resembled some typical teenage girl’s bedroom. Posters of movie stars, pop bands and cartoon characters adorned three of the four walls. He did not recognise any of them. This observation was inconsequential. As far as Isaac was concerned, anyone who lived in the world of make believe and fiction instead of facing up to reality did not deserve to exist.
He saw a space white dressing table and a soft blue chair beside the door. A profusion of cushions and soft toys fought for space on the single bed.
This room was the exact copy of the control subject’s own bedroom. The detailing was most impressive. They had even replicated a wallpaper tear at the bottom corner of the room. According to the sanitised report, the delegates had been given to read, Loopy, the family cat had done that several years ago.
Considering the amount of drugs they had pumped into the control subject’s body, Isaac doubted the girl would have noticed. In fact, they probably could have wheeled her into a bare white room and she wouldn’t have cared.
It made him quietly proud to witness his influence filtering down. Most of the scientists, orderlies and general assistants were members of the church. To have a strong work ethic and to perform above and beyond your duty were qualities engrained in every practitioner. It was the only way the church was going to rise above and defeat the unjust masses.
Isaac straightened his back. The facsimile door swung inwards and one of the orderlies pushed an occupied wheelchair into the middle of the room. He nodded at his fellow church goer, then felt ridiculous for performing such a pointless motion. Isaac put his uncharacteristic lapse in concentration down to nerves and excitement.
While the orderly manoeuvred the dribbling girl into the soft chair, Isaac browsed through the digital information now scrolling down the side of the window.
Emma Brown had turned twenty-three last month, still living with her parents and… Isaac paused, a large smile spread across his face. The girl had just had a baby! Could this be the surprise that his source hinted at? She gave birth to a little girl three weeks ago.
This was going to be so thrilling, far more interesting than the previous two demonstrations. While the orderly continued to make the girl more comfortable, Isaac carried to reading the text.
The girl was of average intelligence, left school with no qualifications and spent the last few years wandering from one unskilled job to another. It surprised him that this unjust specimen hadn’t started breeding at an earlier age. They usually follow the same pattern of spawning more parasites as some as they mature.
“And the Lord said unto him, lead the chosen to the promised land. For the unjust, the liars and the weak shall be the rain to scour the plains clean.”
Emma did not know the father of the child. There was no surprise there. This girl did not deserve the life that the Lord had given her and as his spokesman, Isaac deemed it only right that he should be the one to deny her what she did not warrant. Like her parents before her, she was sucking on the blood of society, a foul scrounger, a prime example of one of the unjust.
Isaac’s First Minister would call her ‘prime Jeremy Kyle Show fodder’
Another orderly brought in a small wriggling package, wrapped in a white shawl. They must have already infected the child. Why else would that frightened man be holding the baby by the ankle, treating it as though it was a giant rat or a live bomb?
Isaac’s man took the package from the other orderly who then spun around and raced out of the room. The orderly crouched and gently laid the wriggling package on the dark blue carpet, close to the mother’s feet before retreating from the room.
What was going to happen next? Going by Isaac’s previous observations, that girl was about to become her baby’s first solid meal.
Two ting pink arms pushed out from underneath the blanket, followed by her arms and her head.
“Move your feet, you daft bitch,” urged a voice behind Isaac.
Even if the clown had been shouting his warning directly into her ear, she wouldn’t have responded. The drugs still denied the girl consciousness. Isaac wished otherwise. It didn’t feel right that Emma wouldn’t be aware for her own demise.
The baby pulled her way out from under the blanket and used its hands to make her way towards her mother. Just the fact that this three week old child could move under her own power astonished Isaac. Although his knowledge of babies would probably fit onto the back of a postage stamp, even he knew that what he was witnessing just wasn’t possible.
The baby reached the girl’s ankle and, surprisingly, the creature didn’t fasten its jaws against her flesh. Instead, she continued to use those powerful fingers to climb up her knees and onto her mother’s lap.
The girl reacted to the baby’s presence by grabbing the hem of her nightdress and pulling the material up her body. She must be operating on some deep maternal instinct. If she had not been drugged up, Isaac was sure that Emma would have tried to tear that Godless thing off her skin and thrown it against the wall.
Was the interior minister behind Isaac wishing the same thing or was he now too busy staring at the girl’s large breasts to care the Emma was about to be eaten alive?
This bond between parent and child went both ways, it even transgressed the infection, although, Isaac believed what was to come was more insidious than simple mother and baby love. It reached the girl’s left breast and clamped its mouth over the nipple.
Emma’s eyes suddenly flashed open wide. She slammed the back of her head into the chair and arched her back. Her arms whipped out to the side, her fingers sprayed out wide. Isaac guessed the drugs must now be wearing off.
Bloodstained milk seeped out from the baby’s moving mouth. Judging from the look of utter terror now etched upon Emma’s face, she had now began to understand her situation. Yet, she still allowed this abomination to suckle from her. It was likely that the girl had accepted her fate already and had decided to let it do whatever it wanted. After all, she was one of the unjust, a weak-minded creature, with little instinct for elf preservation.
The baby’s fingers gripped and pulled at her skin, its tiny nails digging into the girl’s flesh, and yet she still didn’t remove it. She must be in a great deal of pain. Isaac so wished he could hear her cry out. Unfortunately, due to a previous plea from one of the other delegates, the orderly had muted the sound. Isaac sighed. He would just have to watch the suffering in silence.
He sneaked a glance behind him and discovered one more delegate had left the room. It took effort to keep calm. He found it obscene to watch these so-called men of power wilted at the sight of a little blood. Still, why should he be even surprised at their reaction? After all, to the church, these men were no more entitled than the unjust masses. Oh sure, unlike those worthless vermin, all the men who’d originally accompanied Isaac had achieved something in their live but none of that mattered. None of them belonged to the church, none of them were chosen. They all deserved the same fate as the unjust.
Isaac turned his attention back to what really mattered, to find the girl had finally got around to trying to pull the creature away from her. Her efforts were wasted though. The baby’s fingers had pushed all the way through her flesh. Judging from the angle, it had managed to curl its digits around a rib bone. All she managed to achieve was to pull its head away from her ruined breast for a moment but it didn’t matter for as soon as her blood-slicked finger lost purchase, the head sprang back, burying its tiny mouth into the raw open wound it had already created.
“and the fle
“The chosen gather around its wings and rejoice.”
Isaac spun around. He hadn’t noticed the orderly entering the room. Also, all the other delegates had left the room.
“Brother Isaac,” uttered the orderly. “Please continue to observe. The demonstration has yet to finish.”
“I fail to see what more there is to learn from this.” He pressed his nose against the glass. The girl’s efforts were weakening. She didn’t have long left to live. Already, those baby’s teeth has chewed a sizable hole through her breast.
The orderly didn’t reply. He just stood beside Isaac and watched the carnage with him while recanting the death chant.
Isaac joined him in the chant. He felt at peace, as he always did when performing the Lord’s sacred duty.
The girl’s struggles had now all but ceased. She had passed on, killed by her own infant daughter yet the baby had no intention of stopping. Like a locust stripping leaf, those teeth continued chewing through flesh. Its bloated stomach looked ready to burst. Is that why the orderly wanted Isaac to continue watching? He turned to him. “How much meat will it be able to consume?”
The orderly smiled back. “Brother, please continue your observations.”
He shrugged and turned back to the scene, watching this creature feast upon the carcass of its mother. Isaac blinked. Wait, did he just see Emma’s left hand twitch? A muscle spasm surely!
“You have got to be kidding me,” he murmured. The dead girl slowly sat forward. Her arms lifted and her head tilted down. She rested her hands and the baby and the girl’s fingers tightened around its tiny arms. “How is this even possible?” He stared at the orderly. “That girl is dead.”
The orderly grinned back at Isaac. “For the unjust, the liars and the weak shall be the rain to scour the plains clean.” The man tapped on the glass. “Brother, the clouds will open and the rain shall cleanse the earth.”
The dead girl stood up, effortlessly tearing the feeding baby off her body and held it at arm’s length. Emma’s eyes moved up and down the baby’s little body before she turned it upside down, holding it by the feet. The fact that what remained of her left breast hung down, the loose, torn flesh flapping against Emma’s chest didn’t seem to bother her.
For the first time since entering the institute, Isaac felt ice-cold fingers caressing his spine. He now had an inkling of the unease demonstrated by the other delegates today. Unlike those though, He embraced the disquiet. He managed to tear his gaze from the window. “This truly is the Lord’s doing.”
The orderly shook his head. “I’ll admit that his hands may have guided the research team, Brother Isaac, but it was us who put in the hours.” He smiled at Isaac. “Behold, the climax, brother!” He tapped his forefinger on the glass.
Isaac turned back, just in time to witness Emma smash the child’s head on the corner of the bed post before dropping the now still baby onto the carpet. The dead girl fell to her knees. She pushed her index finger hard against the top of the baby’s skull, pushing aside the already fractured bone. Emma then bent over and pushed in the rest of her fingers into the hole, using her strength to pull the broken skull away from the baby’s brain.
The lights in the room began to dim. Isaac’s last view was of the dead girl bringing the skull up to her open mouth. He so needed to sit down. The implications of what he had just seen now streaked through his mind. Each thought bringing up another ten similar concepts and ideas. This was just incredible. Isaac had originally believed that the Undeath virus would be powerful enough to incapacitate enough of the population for him to wrestle control from his enemies ion the government. This though, this – what was it, a side effect? This was the ultimate golden nectar. Once unleashed nothing would stand in path to rightful ascension.
“All the other delegates are now residing in the recovery room, Brother Isaac. Would you like to observe them?”
A sly glint appeared in the orderly’s eyes. Before Isaac could question him, the man turned away and marched towards the open door. He took one more look at the now darkened room before following the man. The mind was still spinning over what he had just witnessed. Whatever tiny cracks that had appeared in his faith were now firmly cemented over. It was such a good feeling.
The bland corridors flashed past as Isaac strode through the institute. He passed a number of employees. None were church members so he didn’t bother to acknowledge them.
The orderly was waiting for him when he reached the recovery room. “Brother, perhaps you would like refreshment?” he said when Isaac placed his hand on the door handle. “Please, follow me.”
Isaac tried the door, only to find it locked. “Why is this locked?”
“It’s for your own protection, brother,” he replied. “Is you would like to follow me?”
The man disappeared around the corner. Isaac ran to catch him, eager to find out exactly what he the orderly was up to. The man reached another door and held it open for Isaac.
“Just climb the stairs, brother.”
Isaac did as he was asked. He found himself in a room similar to the one he left. Isaac wandered over to the large window at the far end of the room, and found himself looking down at the other delegates. They were all there. Two cabinet ministers, a couple of industrialists and three advisers to the defence department. Of course, the breast ogling minister of the interior was down there too, currently sipping water from a plastic cup.
“The unjust take on many forms.”
Isaac nodded in agreement. He took a coffee form the orderly’s proffered hand. “You have done very well here, brother. I will admit, it is not often that I am taken unawares but you have certainly done that today.”
“I’m glad you approve, brother.” He tapped on the glass causing three of the delegates to look up. The orderly then turned to Isaac. “and to finish the demonstration?” He smiled again.
The two doors in the recovery room opened. About half of the delegates turned towards the noise, Isaac guessed they were probably expecting him to walk through. They no doubt already had their speeches prepared, condemning the work done here at the institute. In fact, he knew that would be their response. The mood down there was a mixture of disgust and disbelief.
Isaac chuckled. The mood was soon to change. He had an idea of the fate that was to befall that group of mumbling sheep. He sighed in satisfaction as the infected creatures from the two earlier demonstration raced into the recovery room. three teenage males and an elderly male.
What made the experience all the more enjoyable was the sound hadn’t been muted. Isaac sipped his coffee while listening to the screams and shouting from the terrified delegates The minister of the Interior had somehow managed to dodge the rampaging creatures and had pushed a conference table against the wall. The gibbering man looked behind him, screaming in fear as the elderly man charged at him, luckily for the minister, one of the industrialists fell in between them. The infected pensioner fell on the industrialist, his teeth and fingernails shredding his flesh. The minister climbed onto the table and started to beat his fists on the glass.
Isaac grinned back at the minister before he turned to the orderly. “This coffee is most agreeable.” When he turned back to the one-way glass, two more infected had taken a leg each and had dragged the shrieking man back onto the floor.
Very quickly, the delegates ceased their shouts and screams. By the time Isaac had finished his drink, all that could be heard from the recovery room were the wet sounds of the infected feasting of their flesh.
“and so the cycle continues,” murmured the orderly.
“The idolaters and all the liars – they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulphur. This is the second death.”
“That isn’t from the Scriptures!”
Isaac nodded. “No, it’s from the book of their God. I think the quote is rather apt.” He passed the orderly his empty cup. “Come, brother. There is much work to be done.”
