Ronny paddled further into the bay. This was the first time he had been alone since he left Grace in Seattle. The water was calming as it slowly hit the side of his canoe. Then he saw it. The island appeared in the distance. Since the sun began to rise, the island was only barely visible. He looked out to it and thought he saw a person standing on the beach. As he paddled closer, he saw that it was indeed a person. Behind them were a few more people. Then moments later, a red light began to shine in the sky that appeared to be a flare. Once he was in shallow water, a person helped Ronny pull in his canoe. The person who helped smiled and said, "Hello. Welcome to the island". Ronny said, "Hey, my name is Ronny. Can I speak to Omar? He told me to come here". The man smiled and said, "Hello Ronny, I am Omar". He extended his hand as Ronny shook it.
Omar was a bit shorter than the others on the beach, his skin was also darker. Ronny got out of the canoe as Omar said, "I'm so glad you could make it. After I talked to you on the radio, I assumed you wouldn't make it". Ronny looked at the the people behind Omar. They were all tall and pale as oppose Omar. They all held spears with arrowheads at the ends, in an almost tribal way. Ronny said, "Well, I ran into some trouble on the way here". Omar looked out to the bay and said, "Where's the rest of your people". Ronny said, "Well like I said we ran into some trouble and we got split up". Omar said, "Oh, I see. Well let's not talk here. Let me take you back to the village". As Ronny and Omar walked from the beach into the city, Ronny saw a familiar sight. The city was in ruins. Then Ronny saw two more people who appeared to be with Omar, standing next to a jeep. Omar and Ronny got in as the headed out of the city and into a clearing not far from the city. There there was a small village.
The village had no wall surrounding it which made Ronny uneasy. The houses were made out of what appeared to be rotting flesh. As the jeep approached the village, Ronny was hit with a foul stench. Ronny began to cough as he asked, "What's that stench"? Omar said, "We make our homes out of zizi skin. We kill them, gut them, and use them to our advantage. Their bones are still strong enough to be used as weapons. Their flesh can be used as camouflage from other zizis. If you smell like them they won't think twice about eating you. We use their blood and organs to cover ourselves when we're out making runs". Ronny, although sick, thought it was smart and said, "So you call the undead zizis"? Omar said, "Yes. I don't know why but the name stuck. Also, I know the smell is terrible, but you get used to it".
Finally, the jeep stopped and Omar got out. He said, "You came at the perfect time, Ronny. We could use your help". Ronny said, "How so"? "We have men trapped to the north of us. They went on a run to gather more supplies and we lost contact". Ronny said, "Give me supplies and a few men and I'll go find them for you".
As Ronny was given weapons, food and anything else he could need, a man walked up to him with a bucket filled with biter guts. At first, Ronny was resistant, but he allowed the man to cover him. Ronny said, "Will this kill me if I get cut or if I swallow it"?
The man said, "Hopefully not. In small doses this will only give you a fever. No one has gotten enough in their system to see what a high dose does". Ronny said, "Then I'll be careful to not ingest any".
Ronny then headed north with two men in search for Omar's people. One of the men was there to help guide Ronny. His name was Walter. The other, Ryan, was there as back up.
After walking a bit longer, Ronny said, "How much further"? Walter said, "We should be in the general area of where we lost contact". They were standing in a small town consisting of only a few building, most of which were businesses. Ronny said, "Well let's get searching". He walked up to the nearest building and said, "Here's the plan, I'm gonna go in and scope the area. Ryan count to ten and then follow me. Walter, watch the area so we have a safe way to leave if things go south". Ronny then quietly walked into the building. Besides the sunlight peeking between the planks on the windows, the building was pitch dark. Ronny took out his flashlight as he crept through the building. It was a video rental store. Most of the videos were missing or on the ground. Then Ronny heard Ryan enter the building. Ronny turned around to see Ryan. When he turned back around, a biter walked in front of him from an aisle over. Ronny was startled and was about to attack it until he saw it wasn't paying attention to him. He had forgotten that he was camouflaged.
Ronny and Ryan continued to walk through the building until Ryan stopped. He was looking in the corner of the store. Ronny stopped as well to see why Ryan looked in that direction. There stood three biters, all were huddled in the corner. Ryan whispered, "That's them". Ronny sighed and said, "I'm sorry for your loss". Ryan said, "Loss? What do you mean? We can use them". Ronny looked a bit confused as Ryan walked up to the closest biter and cut off its bottom jaw. He then proceeded to do the same thing to the other biters. As he did it. He whispered to Ronny to cut off the fingers. After cutting off the first jaw, the biter tried to attack Ryan, but Ronny grabbed the biter by the arm and pulled out pliers. He then snipped off the fingers. He then did it to the other two biters. Ryan said, "With no jaw and no fingers, they cant hurt you". Then Ryan took out rope and tied it around all of their necks as he guided them out of the building. Walter saw the biters but was unfazed by it. Once Ronny was out of the building he said, "So that's what you do when someone you know dies? You mutilate them and take them home"? Ryan said, "We do more than that. Wait until we get home".
As they walked back, Ronny grew uncomfortable with the biters as he felt they were going to attack at any moment. Finally, when they made it back to the base, Omar welcomed them. Ryan told him about his peoples' deaths. Omar said, "How unfortunate. Luckily for us they still have some use. And now Ronny can see how we use them". Omar then guided the biters and Ronny to a platform just behind the village. The platform was made out of concrete. Next to it were logs stuck upward in the ground and one stick resting on top of it, like a makeshift grill. Ronny approached the platform, he saw dried blood all over it. There was also a man waiting for Omar and the biters. He was wearing an apron and face mask, as well as gloves and high boots. He was also holding a knife. Several bloody buckets were next to him.
As Omar placed the biters on the platform, he tied the rope to a hoop that was in the concrete slab. He then walked over to Ronny to observe what the man would do next. Omar said, "When we catch a zizi this is what we do with them".
The man on the platform walked up to one of the biters and cut open their knees. They then grabbed the tendon and sliced it. He proceeded to do it to the other knee, as the biter fell to the ground. Omar said, "We first slice the tendons in the knees to ensure they can't move. Since their fingers are gone they can't crawl. With the tendons in their knees cut, they cant walk". The man then placed a bucket in front of the biter's head as he lifted it up and slit its throat. The blood spilled into the bucket as the biter finally died. Omar said, "Like I said, nothing goes to waste. We use the blood to soak the organs to make sure they last longer between runs". Once the biter stopped bleeding, the man picked up the corpse and brought it over to the makeshift grill. He stuck the stick down the biter's mouth and pushed it until it poked through the other end. He then laid the stick onto the two logs it was originally resting on and started to cut vertically along the biters chin down to it's stomach. He also placed buckets underneath to catch the blood. Omar said, "We then hang them to drain any remaining blood before we gut them". After the biter was drained, the man placed it back onto the platform it was originally on and began to butterfly cut the biter's torso and stomach. He took out all of the organs and muscle within and placed them into the buckets of blood. He then repeated the process with the arms, legs and head. Omar said, "We cut them open and use their organs for disguising, we take the bones to be washed and shaved into spear tips, sword blades and any other tool that we need. The skin, we cover it in salt and leave it out to dry. We then use it to make tents, blankets, clothes and anything else we need". By now Ronny was horrified. He looked back at the village and saw the faces on the tent clothes. Although he heard them mention it earlier, he wasn't affect by it until he saw the process. He even saw a small child wearing a hat made out of a biter head. Ronny looked at Omar who appeared to be pleased with the results of the biters. Ronny screamed, "You all are sick. You're fucking sick". Omar frowned and said, "How so? We're simply using the resources that have been provided to us. We can't help it that zizis are the most abundant". Ronny said, "You're making weapons, tents, clothes out of human beings"! Omar chuckled and said, "Oh, ok. I see why you're upset now. You mistook a zizi for a human. Ronny, they are no longer human. They can't think, speak, or feel, therefore they're no longer human". Ronny thought about it for a moment and said, "I suppose you're right, but it just feels wrong". Omar smiled and grabbed Ronny's shoulder with a gentle touch, "Yes Ronny. It seems in this new world we must do unusual things to survive. Soon you'll understand our ways and see it as normal".
YOU ARE READING
After The End
Short Story"Ronny said, "So how did you guys find pigs"? Omar said, "There have always been a few wild hogs on this island. But otherwise, most of the ones here were from the local farms". Ronny took another bite as Omar said, "It's unfortunate Ryan, Walter, a...
