I Don't Mix My Cereal

Zachary sat down in his favorite chair with the adjustable angles of reclining enjoyment. He sat down in front of his big screen TV which he only used for news and information networks. There was only one news channel that he would watch. The rest changed his formats too often. He was carrying a newspaper, but he rarely read news just because he got the same thing from the TV station. Besides the newspaper was really only to block out people he didn't want to deal with, like his wife Janene.

"She already left."

"Who are you?"

An 11 year old kid looked up from the floor. He had short cropped hair and was covered from foot to neck by colorful cartoon pajamas. Unwavering blue eyes focused into his own.

"Why don't you sit on the floor anymore?"

"Cause it hurts my back. Now, who are you and how did you get into my house?"

The kid just looked up with an almost sad face. Zachary jerked the newspaper up in front of his face. A few minutes later he slowly looked over the newspaper and the kid was gone.

*****

Zachary sat down to his dining room table with the matching china set out in four places. His wife bought the china and it wasn't allowed to be use because she didn't want it to get dirty. He picked up one set and placed it on the kitchen counter and found a bowl, and a clean spoon before pouring a bran cereal and 2% milk for himself. He looked down at the bowl of cereal. It wouldn't be winning any awards for presentation. It was boring.

"Why don't you mix something good in with it?"

The boy again. He looked a little older. His appearance wasn't nearly as startling to Zachary as before. He looked up at him slightly confused.

"But I don't have any other kind of cereal."

"Why not?"

"This is the only kind Janene gets."

"But she is already gone. Get your own kind of cereal."

"She didn't say good bye."

"It was implied."

"You're pretty smart for such a little kid."

"You know I'm just in your head. Right?"

Zachary just stared at the bowl of cereal and then spooned a big bite of bran and milk. It tasted like cardboard. But at least he wasn't insane and talking to himself. People that live in nice houses, have big screen TV's, and nice cars don't go crazy. That's a fact. Zachary was sure he had seen it on the Discovery channel once.

*****

"I'm pretty sure that the nice car isn't a preventive for insanity."

Why was there a blonde teenager in his car. He thought he remembered this kid. Zachary had seen him in a mirror once. And he was looking at him in a mirror again. The kid's face beamed at him from the rear view mirror.

"You spent a lot of money to get a fancy sports car. It's just a status symbol for you though. Something to throw money at so people would respect you just a little bit more. Are you so thirsty for that empty respect of material possessions? You're living too many lies. You could have bought something more economical to match your driving style."

"What's that?"

"Safe."

"I like safe."

"Then why did you buy a sports car?"

Zachary ignored the teenager in the backseat of his car. What did he know anyway. The Discovery channel hadn't led him wrong yet. He patted the dashboard and wondered if a better stereo system might make a better insanity repellent.

*****

Zachary had been sitting on the examination table for quite some time before the doctor came in. The patient robe had started to itch.

"What seems to be the problem?"

"I've just been seeing things."

"You know. I'm not a psychologist. Dr. Shelfield is a few buildings over and she does some amazing work."

"No, that's not it at all."

"What is it then?"

"I've just gotten these awful stomach aches since I started mixing my cereal again."

"Why would you do that?"

"I guess, I wanted to know what it would taste like."

"You know, I remember when I used to mix my cereal." The doctor looked confused. "What does it taste like?"

"It tastes kind of like living."

Death Walker part 4

It's a well known fact that a battery dropped off the roof of a building will break through the skull of the average human, instantly killing them. A less popular (but probably just as well known) fact is that a bullet fired straight down out of a .50 caliber bolt action sniper rifle will do effectively the same thing.

It's just a lot messier.

The woman's head snapped back sending a spray of brain matter and bone shards over the concrete. Her body remained standing just a few seconds longer before her knees went weak and she crumbled into a heap. She didn't bleed out, her heart had already stopped, or maybe it wasn't beating when Terrance shot her.

"Tssk that's the cat's meow!"

He didn't get any response from Sandy and he was laying real still after the Necros had thrown him aside. Both of the Necros were circling the body of the dead woman. They slumped near her and the Necros seemed to be morning. But then they attacked the corpse, shredding into to the fragile body and pulling away limbs and chunks of flesh. Terrance thought he was going to be sick. He breathed hard and swallowed back the churning in his stomach.

Terrance dragged his satchel of supplies down one flight of stairs before abandoning them and taking the next five with only his rifle and a couple of frag grenades. The rifle still had the tripod connected to it, but he was in too much of a hurry to worry with it. He was breathing heavily by the time he got to the lobby of the building and almost fell over as he stumbled outside.

Both of the Necros were still tearing at the bits of flesh and bone that could barely be called a corpse anymore. The visor on Terrance's gas mask started to fog up as he made his way to the prone body of his friend. His foot caught on something solid and his rifle clattered to the ground as he stumbled a few feet. Terrance whipped around to look at the Necros. The dog shaped Necros was glaring at him, but the humanoid Necros was stuffing entrails into it's mouth with it's back turned to him. He calmed his breathing and visor cleared up.

Bending down to pick up the rifle his hand brushed against something hard. The golden skull was looking up at him.

"Score. This will get some MREs and maybe ammo." Terrance scooped the skull up and held it under an arm pit and picked up his gun with his other hand.

A slow groan slipped from Sandy's lips and Terrance crawled over to his friend while keeping an eye on the dog Necros. Sandy was still alive but appeared to be exhausted and sweat was covered his face. Terrance put the golden skull onto Sandy's stomach and swung his rifle to rest on his back. Then with one smooth motion he picked up the weak body of his friend and started walking toward a beat up jeep that waited a few buildings down from the building they had spent the night in.

The clatter of rubble on concrete alerted Terrance and he turned slowly around. Necros ate quickly, and they were always hungry. Nothing was left of the woman. No flesh or bones, even her long flowing blonde hair had found it's way into a Necros belly. They were eyeing him now.

He wouldn't be able to make it to the vehicle with Sandy in tow before the Necros caught up. Even without the dead weight he would feel the powerful talons of the beasts ripping into him long before he could make it to the safety of the faster vehicle. The ugly blood stained maw of the humanoid Necros seemed to be smiling.

"I can walk. Put me down, but don't run. You'll just make them thirst for the hunt."

"Yeah, right. Don't run. You just don't want to be the one they get to first. We are seriously screwed."

Sandy laughed and this made him cough viciously. "Everything dies, we just have to worry about when."

A soft clink of metal on metal caught Terrance's ears and he noticed Sandy had snagged one of his grenades. And was about to throw it.

"My life wasn't nearly this exciting before I met you."

"Consider yourself blessed, and get ready to run."

The grenade arced over the heads of the Nercros pair to land on some rubble and slide back down next to them. The dog Necros sniffed at it. Then chunks of Necros were raining down from the sky. Terrance ran and pulled Sandy behind him as fast as they could go. Sick sounds of muscle tearing and bones snapping filled the air as the flesh of the Necros began to mend.

Terrance threw his friend into the drivers seat and jumped into the back. Sandy had the keys anyway and this was no time change driving arrangements. Sandy started the vehicle expertly and pulled off. There was a brief period of time when Terrance thought that every thing was going to be alright. They had lost some supplies, but most of the food and essentials were in the Jeep. A black streak of muscle and fury caught his eye a second too late. The dog Necros. It was moving too fast for the Jeep to even matter, too fast for physics to explain properly, and much too fast for Terrance to swing his rifle around.

Sandy managed to keep the Jeep from flipping as the entire Jeep lurched from the impact. But, now he had a hand full of steering wheel and was fighting to get the vehicle straight again.

Terrance only had the rifle between him and the ugly abomination and it had already bitten off the tripod and had started gnawing on the barrel of the gun. Twisting around for leverage he managed to get the gun pointing the right way. Right into the things blackened mouth.

"Sit! Stay! Good dog!" Terrance pulled the trigger and blew the back off of the mutt's head.

The body went limp and tumbled to the ground were it rolled to a stop amid the dust and the smoke from the Jeep's exhaust. It didn't get back up.

A Moment Away

The death of another moment
So precious in it's fragility
Such a pleasant thing once
Now just a memory of what was
Away, Away never to return
The lost light replaced, dark
Songs don't end so quickly
Often they burn into the night
And, the moments flow onward
Held softly in an angel's eyes

Time is a flurry of moments
Frequently birthed and dying

Lingering fragrance, lovers scent
Stalwart souls in the glass city
Famed for structure, illuminance
Warrior's last breathe, lost cause
In a moment the glass walls burn
Painted in crimson, furious mark
In ending, there is hope bleakly
Will you know if the time is right
As the future destiny is conjured
Thousand progeny and their cries

Time is a flurry of moments
Frequently birthed and dying

Death Walker part 3

Sandy didn't notice the noise behind him as the humanoid looking Necros came out of the building. It's skin felt like burnt leather as muscular arms wrapped around him and shocked him back into action. He started to aim the Uzi at the blonde woman, but the a powerful squeeze caused him to drop the weapon. It was hard to breath because of the constricting hold and the horrible smell of death drowning his sense of smell. Sandy's vision started to blur and he thought he heard wind chimes in the distance. Before he could pass out though, the Necros had dumped him on the ground.

Standing over his prone body was the woman holding the golden skull. Her features were twisted into a mocking smile and by no uncertain terms she was enjoying Sandy's confusion and pain. There was something else in her eyes though; she seemed to be sizing him up like a race horse.

"You will do for now, but you can't be the only living man on the planet."

Frag off bitch. Sandy tried to talk, but he couldn't get air into his lungs. What little he could breath in was tainted because of the putrid stench.

She reached out and touched his cheek with a slender hand. It felt surprisingly cool compared to the building heat that was beginning to make Sandy's sweat covered body steam. Her smile was almost kind as she ran her fingers through his hair. He was regaining his breath and reflexively tried to jerk away, only to find that the ugly face of the humanoid Necros was inches from his own.

"You must be very afraid. Have you ever seen a Necros before?" She gestured at the creature behind him.

"No, I've just heard of them. What they can do." He was still having trouble talking.

"Then why did you attack this one? Didn't you know that it wouldn't be any use?"

"I thought I might get lucky, what's it to you?"

She smiled then. Sandy thought the way she had smiled before when he was at her feet was cruel. The smile made his blood freeze. "In a way you are very lucky. Lift him! Hold him!"

Gravel and dirt flew into the air as the Necros lifted him off the ground and Sandy kicked fruitlessly. The damned thing didn't know how to hold someone without crushing ribs and bruising flesh. It's elongated jaw hung over Sandy's shoulder and a putrid tongue lolled out and wrapped around his neck. The tongue was as long as Sandy's forearm and felt like it was lined with oozing warts.

"I never told you my name. How rude of me. I'm Melinda Dross." Her voice dripped with seduction as she lifted the golden skull into his line of sight.

The skull's eyes burned into Sandy's. What looked like human eyes glared out from the golden sockets, they were mismatched. One eye was blue and the other was a dark green that was almost black. They were both shriveled and dried out, but they had probably been removed recently. He closed his eyes and tried to turn away but the vice like grip of the Necros held him firmly in place.

The blonde woman grabbed his crotch and squeezed viciously. His eyes opened in pain to gaze into the golden skull once again. Everything else was only a memory. The skull was the only thing he could see. It was the only thing he could feel as the cool metal touched his face. And strangely it was the only thing he could hear as a pounding rhythm started in his ears.

Death's rhythm. The ebb and flow of damnation. It was the most beautiful thing Sandy had ever heard.

Obsidian Butterflies

Black flickers against the moonlight
Diamond starpoints on their wings
Heartbeats flutter quickly in fright
Beauty, when ever death will sing

A dark flutter, remains a blood kiss
Eyes wide with the realization, pain
Beside her ear the whisper, a hiss
Her cheeks blush crimson with shame

One tear falls from her amethyst eyes
Cascading through skies to mountain
Through the silence a scream crashes
Aura of blue and black, wings to maim

The angel in the cloud of fragile blades
Obsidian Butterflies cut her milky skin
She is carried on the pulsating wave
Blood running down her body, crimson

Blinded by bodies, deaf from wingbeats
Sword's song dying on lips of rose petals
Flying awkwardly, intent on only retreat
Poor agent of light, nightfall missiles

Angel feathers and razor wings fall down
Her great span is now two ragged stumps
Around her brow, a bladed insect crown
Desperate for sky , downward crumples

Through the cloud, swirling devastation
Brilliant beacon, the sun sings it's song
She reaches out for the warmth of dawn
Only to touch despair in the shadows long

Death Walker part 2

Two things will kill you when everything else is going in your favor. Panic and hesitation. Sandy could feel the clutches of panic gripping his stomach, but he ignored it. Pushing it into the back of his conscious, pushing it into the resolve of what must be done. He certainly didn't hesitate for even a moment, and his step hadn't faltered since he started pounding down the stairs to meet the Necros.
Then again, not everything was going in Sandy's favor. And, unless he was completely mistaken, there were two other things that were very eager to kill him no matter his attitude.

"What in fragging hell do you think you're doing?"

He didn't have time to answer Terrance's static burst of a comcast, and only response was an affirmative response click in the same motion that turns the device off. Pain was shooting up his legs as he clattered down the stairs as fast as he could. His only hope would be to out run the Necros. He didn't want them entering the building and climbing the stairs, essentially trapping him. As he rounded the stairs on the third floor a voice in the back of his head told him that this was a horrible risk if the Necros some how missed the two humans resting on a building during a relatively cool morning. There was no heading back now, he had already made up his mind, and the hesitation needed to rethink his reaction would be long enough to be caught with two Necros behind him and no where to run.

A sick scraping hiss sound echoed from the lobby below him. The Necros had sensed them, but maybe his decisive action still wouldn't be enough. Screeching noises sounded off the walls as Sandy pounded down the last set of steps to face one of the monsters, eye to eye. It stood at least seven foot tall and had broad shoulders and it's skin had the look of black chitin. It's eyes seemed to be crusted over with blood, but it's head swung around in Sandy's direction as he slid into the lobby. This Necros had an oddly humanoid shape even though it was hunched over, and had a distended face with a row of blackened razor sharp teeth. A sound like someone tearing a chicken leg on Thanksgiving morning only amplified horribly came out of the elongated mouth of the Necros.

Sandy briefly thought about his chances of running back up the stairs and hoping the thing had a horrible short term memory, but that moment passed as his arm rose on it's own accord and pulled the trigger on the Uzi. He had forgotten about the Uzi and was surprised to see it bucking in his hand as bullets slammed into the face and chest of the Necros. Ichor spewed from it's chest to splatter across the floor. Sandy didn't let go of the firing stud until the bullets had stopped coming, but the thing was already starting to get up.

His free hand grabbed his only extra clip and slammed it into place before the first had hit the ground. Instead of emptying this clip into the beast he ran for the door, and out into the quickly warming air. A woman was waiting for him there. She helda golden skull in her hands and she was such an imposing figure that Sandy almost didn't notice the dog like Necros standing beside her.

Panic and hesitation set in.

Roads of Eternity

The sun is always shining down on this road
Prophets used to say that it's paved with gold
Truth is more extraordinary than the fiction
A giant rides out wearing a steel tipped crown

Potholes, and torn concrete litter this road
Everyone wants to ride it by the busload
But no one thinks to repair the road to Heaven
Finding it seems hard enough to make it in

How many souls litter this broken road?
Their feverish pacing, the shoulder erodes
Trapped between Heaven and earth
Wondering if the wait will be worth
Eternity



Go back! Try again, you peon!
The road is under construction
Heaven is full and you couldn't
Even pay the toll to repent

You put too much weight
On you're soul, eternal fate
Time to pay for your share
Not many squeak in by a hair

The road of eternity goes on
Some take the exit ramps along
Endings are hard to come by
Beginnings are all in your sight

Death's Prey part 1

Night’s coming cut through the brilliance that day once held like a scythe along the horizon. The last ripples of flames cast by the sun faded softly across his face. Craig closed his eyes as night filled his senses. There was silence, and he heard this, while the noises of the city fell on unhearing ears. There it was again- silence.
Like the blood curdling scream of a banshee the silence sent a shiver up his muscular back. The silence was easier to follow than any tracks that even his eyes could see. Silence was death’s tracks borne on the wind, and tonight that was what Craig was hunting. Death incarnate was spreading like a plaque through the rural areas. Craig was determined to find Death. Not because he had any compassion for the humans that lay unfeeling under the veil of night. Not because he was afraid of the supernatural stalker, or even because he was killing on his territory. Actually that annoyed the hell out of him, but that wasn’t the reason the hunter was being hunted.

Suddenly the smell of death struck Craig like a kick to the jowls and he stopped his running in the middle of a trailer park. He had been running for almost an hour letting the lack of sounds be his guide, and losing himself in the memories of the night before. Death had been here, but had probably been gone for more than a day. A corpse lay sprawled half way out of a trailer clutching at it’s own throat as if the man had suffocated on his way out the door. Craig stepped forward and stooped down to examine the body. Steam boiled up around his mouth as he let his tongue loll out almost comically. The body was remarkably intact for a hot moist climate, but the dead flies that littered the ground around the corpse revealed that Death wasn’t only killing humans. And, he realized that the silence had been complete, and why the lack of carrion feeders had made him feel as if something was wrong.

This was not natural; even for a predator like he these deaths had no purpose. He had no sympathy for the kind that shunned him however their lives did mean something in the grand scheme of things and now they were finished. The silence became unbearable and he found himself running again. His ears laid back as he pounded the ground with all four limbs gaining speed as he the dirt kicked up behind him. The city lights cascaded through the night sky, nearly invisible to the human eye the lights from a distance jutting up into the sky was the most beautiful thing about the city. The ugly parts where were he was going now. Death was done building his strength or cautiously surveying it’s prey. The path led directly into the city.
The moon flooded down across the cityscape and the night breeze stirred up leaves at his feet. This was a place he would not go in this form out of fear for what he might do to the populace if they attempted to hunt him. Rules had changed just as blood had been spilt, the creature that would dare encroach on the feeding grounds would not escape him. Craig raked his razor sharp claws through the loose soil and sought death’s scent once again. There it was, ripe in the heavy air that filled the desecrated area he stood in. The scent filled his lungs as he galloped madly towards the unsuspecting city below him. The sounds of the city met his ears as he slowed enough to catch his breath on the out skirts, in the shadows of the first buildings.

Craig smelled the fear of the crowd long before he heard their frantic screams. The pure emotions brought new strength to his rippling legs as he bounded further into the city. The scent was overpowering and he had to rely on his ears as he came nearer to the source of the chaos. Fire trailed from an overturned bus in the middle of the street. On top of the bus a little girl stood silently watching the world go by. Men were running to try and extinguish the fire or rescue those trapped in the bus. It was then that he saw the bus driver crawling from the wreckage, covered in black ichor. A nearly invisible blue gray strand ran from the back of his head to the girl standing so calmly on the bus. The man was truly a pathetic site. His eyes filled with tears of remorse, and his arm weakly out stretched. Pleading.

“Help me,” the man begged as blood began to violently stream from his nose and mouth.

Shifting into a form that was both man and beast Craig stepped forward to the dying man. He reached down and ran a gnarled hand along the man’s brow. The sound of his neck breaking brought everything into perspective. Everyone saw him now standing above the prostate man, but their attention did not bother him. It was the girl. She held his gaze now, and Craig knew he was staring into the eyes of a killer. He knew that she could step down from the bus, walk casually up to him, and rip his heart out. He saw this all in an instant, and he found that he was truly afraid.

Death Walker part 1

The sun beat down on the dry earth and the earth took the sun into its self as never before. No clouds kept the sun back, the very concept of clouds was almost a foreign thing. Water was scarce, and disease was rampant. The end times arrived when everyone was sleeping. The dead woke then to take their place and man made his fatal mistake. Nuclear hellfire scorched the land, turning mountains into twisted glass foundations and ash. Water boiled from the atmosphere, and those who died with their eyes closed were very lucky.

Sandy leaned out over the edge of the roof as far as he could without slipping and falling to the street below. There was a woman walking the streets of New York and with her two bulky men. They didn't shamble or trip in their movements and he was beginning to question if the heat had finally fried his brain. Sandy's left hand gestured back towards Terrance who was putting together the sniper rifle.

"Not a zombie." said Sandy in a low whisper.

"Survivor?" came the muffled response of someone who never takes off their gas mask.

"Not sure, could be. Something is wrong with the two guys with her though."

Sandy was about to say something else when the woman and her two bodyguards suddenly stopped. She began looking around her as if she had heard, or perhaps smelled something she didn't like. Terrance slid across the rooftop on his back, holding the sniper rifle to his belly until he came up beside Sandy. The rifle was beat up and held together in places by duct tape, but the scope was recently acquired from a burned out gun store. Terrance gazed down at the woman and was surprised to see a beautiful blonde without glazed over eyes and an awkward walk.

"She's alive and looking good, what I wouldn't do for a piece of... Shit."

"What?"

"Necros."

The word sent a chill down Sandy's dirt covered neck. Necros weren't zombies, but they certainly weren't human. They were a death sentence to any who saw them. They couldn't be killed. They didn't bleed, breathe, or give a damn. Blowing one up would only piss it off. They came for you, and when they did... You would be lucky to warn others before it cut you down.

"We have to warn the woman!"

"They're with the woman, she's with them. What kind of woman keeps Necros for company?" He said through the gas mask. Pleading with Sandy, hoping that he would never have to find out.

Terrance looked back over the side of the building with the sniper scope and sucked in a gasp of dirty air through his mask's filtration system.

"Ssskk, I lost them!"

Sandy stumbled to his feet and started running towards the stairs that led up to the roof they now occupied. Fear poured into his belly like worms crawling out of flooded earth. There was no escape for them if the Necros were in the building, but he wasn't about to wait for them to find him on top of some dusty roof. He held a battered Uzi in one hand and his life in the other. One would not fall without the other. Death in one hand, life in the other... Entwined.

Prescription Dreams

Angel has nightmares of goblins and drowning
Her friends say "cheer up and stop the frowning"
No one cares about the monster under her bed
"No such thing as the boogey man" dad said

Shadows drag you down into the blankets
Killers and strangers that you've aleady met
The ceiling is burned into the back of your eye
From nights laying still, praying not to cry

The nightmares aren't real, sleep well tonight
On wings of children's blood comes a new fright!
Down the chimney, through the thin cracks
Sleepy woods are so quiet, behind you, snap!

It's mouth is open wide, teeth jagged, stained
Tounge wraps around your neck, you're afraid
Just as you beg not to be eaten, eyes open
Another day of waiting for the nightmares again

No more, not one more shadow lurking
The nightmares will all be sleeping
When Angel buys her dreams over the counter
One night without pain or the constant fear

Angel sleeps gently tonight tucked in by prescription dreams

No safety Net

Not taking up acrobatics... just talking about the interweb. Well, of course I have net access or I wouldn't be able to put this up. Gosh I just don't post on this blog thing as much as I thought I would. I have plenty of stories I want to write, and plenty of things that I want to say. But, for right now, I don't have any net at home... no quite place I can write out my thoughts and dreams(mostly because of the damn tvs peopls keep blaring any where I can sign on!). I can't blame my lack of posting on this since I had plenty of time over the summer that I could have been posting and instead I wasted it watching tv. I had a good time this summer, but I feel bad about the time I wasted as I let my brain rot out in front of a tv.

I think my weekends have gone on vacation.

I just don't have the time that I think that I have. I set my goals high, and then I find that I'm either busy or I'm setting aside time for previous obligations, or sleeping. I never seem to get enough sleep. I need to study. I need to sleep. I need to finish projects that loom on the horizon. I have no time, but the moments I catch I spend hoping to not be so lonely. The last thing I need is to have someone to take up more of my wasted time. But, I keep thinking that this would all be easier if I had someone I could hold.

My life is a circle, pointless, sustained only by a static morbid curiousity on how life will crush me this time.

I would keep talking, but the tv is blaring any my brain doesn't work when the screen blares for my attention. Fuck it. I'm off to sleep and pray that the morning will strip off my depression