Through the Blood of Others,..

[Webmonkey]

The sounds echoed in her ears. Faintly at first, then growing steadily louder as consciousness began to creep

back in. It was dark still, as she hadn't come around enough to open her eyes yet. Slowly, she mustered up the energy to get one eye open,.. and then the other. The dim light that came streaming in from the streetlamp outside made her eyes hurt. Finally, the thoughts began to flow. How long had she been lying there? Why did her body hurt? And what the hell was that smell??

The sounds from outside were more coherent now. It was people on the the street outside talking calmly,.. and

the sounds on wagon wheels and horse hooves clacking upon the cobblestone road. She pulled her arms slowly to her side, placing her hands upon the floor, and pushed off from the cool stone tile. As she moved her body felt stiff and bruised. Making her way to her knees, she finally was able to sit back on her heels. Sitting up straight made her head reel for a moment. She had to place a hand back on the floor to keep from falling forward again.

Once the dizzy spell had passed, she took a moment to absorb her surroundings. The room she was in was cold and

dark, lit only by the dim streetlight that streamed in through the window of one wall, and by the ambient silver

moonlight that filled the far end of the room from where the roof had partially collapsed. The walls, floor, and ceiling all showed evidence of a long dead fire, and the slight smell of damp soot still hung lightly in the air. She shambled feebly to her feet, and started towards the door. She had to ask for help, and there were people outside.

The charred wooden latch handle of the door was stuck in place. She had to use both hands and pull with her whole body weight to get it to move. It creaked and moaned, and finally gave way all at once, almost causing her to lose her balance. She pulled the door open, and stepped half out into the light, leaning against the doorjam to help support herself.

The whole street seemed to pause as she emerged from the old, burned-out building. Finally,.. after what seemed

like an eternity of time standing still, a lady came out of the general store across the street. Then as the ladys' gaze followed everyone elses gaze to the door of the burned out building,... her face filled with terror, as she dropped the groceries she was carrying and screamed. The scream shattered the silence of the street, and a mans voice from somewhere out in the street yelled "kill it!!" over the murmer of the crowd.

Plumes of gunsmoke filled the air,... riddling the front of the building with bullets. The splinters and chips of wood and stone forced her to seek refuge back inside the building. She didn't understand. Had everyone gone crazy? Why were they shooting at her? She didn't have time to think about these things though. The door suddenly came flying

off the hinges as several men came bursting in, shouting obsenities and calling her "monster". She fell to the floor

and scrambled backwards, trying desperately to get away from her attackers,.. but to no avail.

The men emptied their guns into her. She could feel the bullets ripping through her body. It hurt surprisingly less then she had thought it would. After a moment or two, the firing stopped, and the room went quiet. The men waited patiently for the smoke to clear.

In that moment, her vision shifted to the side. A piece of mirror that had been broken was resting, wedged,

between the floor and the wall. It was then that she caught a look at herself. Her skin was grey-brown and taunt against her bones. The shock of her own visage drowned out the fear of the men in the room that were trying to kill her. A flood of memories came pouring in. Suddenly she remembered,..

Her name was Jessica. She was 26. She had been attending a ball in this very building when a man in a top hat walked into the party. The next thing she could recall was a horde of undead "things" crashing in through the roof and some of the windows. The man in the top hat waved a hand across the air, then there was a flash of light. The next thing Jessica knew, she was waking up on the floor a few minutes ago.

Reality set back in,.. and she let loose a scream of horror as she began to realize what she had now become. Her vision shifted down from the mirror to a large kitchen knife with a charred handle that had been discarded and

overlooked in the fire. Anger began to fill her whole being as she reached out and took the knife from the floor.

Jumping up from the floor,.. she charged at the men through the smoke while most of them were still reloading. A mixture of anger and fear fueled her body as she swung wildly,.. again and again.

The men who still had bullets left fired in vain, trying to stop her relentless charge. But soon, they too were out of bullets. She cut through them like shafts of wheat,.. and few moments later, she was all that remained, standing

amid a pile a carcasses and severed body parts. Her bossom heaved with heavy breaths as she tried to calm herself back down. She looked down at her leathery, wrinkled hands,.. and at what was left of her tattered and scorched Victorian ball gown. Both of which were now covered in blood.

Much to her own surprise,.. the blood of the men began to absorb into the skin of her hands. And for a few moments,.. the youth and beauty of her flesh returned. She stared at her hands in amazement and laughed a bit to herself as the life returned to them. But her moment of revelry was short lived, as a twinge of pain pierced her flesh, and she watched as her skin began to wither and decay once more, until she was once again returned to her undead form.

Suddenly, she was once more aware of the shouts and commotion of the street outside. She knew that more men

would be coming, and soon. She couldn't stay here any longer,.. she had to escape. Hurriedly, Jessica made her way through the rubble and to the back door. And as she shambled out into the darkness of the trees she knew only two things. First,.. she had to find the man in the top hat.

And second,.. he was gonna die,...

[Webmonkey]

So here's my first shot at a story for this site. It will get a bit more dialogue heavy in the next couple of chapters. But I needed to set the stage as to who Jessica is, what happened to her, and why she's doing what she does.

As always,.. thoughts are welcome,.. and critisims encouraged.

Thanks

[Thechosenone]

I liked it sir. I like stories that get into the head of the undead. Thanks for the share

[Webmonkey]

Thanks,.. though it seems that pasting directly from notepad seems to leave a few weird spacing issues in some of the paragraphs. I'll work on the next chapter and get it posted soon.