Undead Genesis: Zombie by Colten Steele Read Free Book Online Page A

had not taken the spider. There was no calming effect from
the drug. It roared in frustration, working itself into a frenzy,
as Marik crawled around it. The boy’s distress increased with each
passing moment.
    It was then that a bright light appeared in
the doorway of the hut. Marik stared blindly at the flame of a
torch, then shielded his eyes from the painful glow.
    A familiar voice cried out, “What is
happening here?”
    The boy lay stunned momentarily, cowering on
the ground from the fear he had been experiencing mixed with the
embarrassment of being caught. He peaked through his hands and was
horrified at the monster secured to the ground in front of him.
    Its body was desiccated with open sores
slowly leaking a mixture of blood and frothy white pus. Each joint
and muscle clearly showed under a paper thin layer of skin, and
though the muscle was sinewy, it appeared to have superhuman
strength as the monster strained against the stretched
bindings.
    The eyes were sunken into deep black pits and
the ear closest to him hung askew from a copious white piece of
cartilage. The hair which had been thickly curled and black, had
fallen out in splotches and was gray where it still limply
remained.
    Most disturbing, the passage of dozens of
large larvae under pale gray skin made the entire body appear to
bubble. Red lines of crusty dead skin oozed blood and crisscrossed
the body where the larvae had already been.
    With eyes now adjusted to the light he saw
the stick lying halfway across the monster’s neck with the spider
bearing end just out of Marik’s reach. He was able to easily
retrieve it in the light. Feeling back in command of the situation,
his determination returned.
    It seemed at the same moment he gathered the
stick, the man at the door reacted to the horrifying scene and
dropped the burning torch. He then ran away yelling through the
middle of the camp.
    Marik knew he did not have much time.
     
    ~ Chapter
XVI ~
     
    With the image of the monster still burned in
the back of his eyes and the dim light of the torch lying on the
ground coming through the door, he quickly turned the stick around.
With a firm grip this time he maneuvered the spider towards the
jaws and was able to hold on when he felt the tug. The teeth
clamped down hard on the spider, and then shattered the stick as
well. He heard snapping from either the wood or the spider’s legs
as the jaws worked.
    Within a minute the beast began to calm down.
Marik grabbed the long pole used to control it and slipped one loop
around the neck of the quickly calming creature. He carefully
started cutting the bindings holding it down with the shaman’s
metal knife he had borrowed. By the time he was done removing the
bindings, the Jombi was staring up at him with dull eyes. Looping
the other end of the long pole around his own wrist, he compelled
the desiccated figure to stand up. It struggled to stand, but
shortly came unsteadily upright.
    From a safe distance, Marik forced the
creature out the door from behind. Outside, dawn had started to
shed its pale light and he found he could see a short distance
ahead. He led the disturbing creature out of the camp.
    Behind him shouts of alarm could be heard
from the distant huts. Marik could not tell what was happening. Had
they found the shaman and tried to wake him? If so, they may
already be looking for him. He needed to hurry.
    Just before reaching the stream the creature
stumbled over a protruding root and splashed headfirst into the
water. Unnoticed by the boy in the early light and confused panic,
two larvae fell from the body into the mud and quickly crawled
under nearby rocks.
    Using the long pole, Marik quickly coerced it
back into a standing position and headed down the stream away from
camp as quickly as he could force the sedated creature to move. The
two trudged through the stream for many hours heading generally in
the direction of the battleground where Marik’s father had been
killed.
    Learning to track