Evolution

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

It’s funny how your goals in life can be as fluid as life itself. You can dedicate ten years to the idea of becoming a doctor, and in a blink of an eye decide you would rather be a photographer. Thus, every passing moment you deemed worthwhile for the long run becomes winded. Those moments are neutral. They once held meaning, but now seem meaningless. This can create chaos and confusion in life. Sometimes and only sometimes, the sheer exhaustion of having goals creates the goal of having none.  For Jedd this was a very real concept. His moments were stagnant. Neutral.

He slowly walked out of the complex confused. The sunshine did nothing to soothe him and the creatures no longer struck terror in his heart. He neither wanted to live, nor to die. His goal to survive took a new ugly face. His new aspirations, if you want to consider it that; though to Jedd he couldn’t think of it that way; Was to simply die somewhere other than Missouri. He couldn’t consider it an aspiration because he truly doubted he would make it, and he no longer cared if he did.

His legs tensed and released as he stomped in the grass, more dragging his feet than actual walking, the man strode diagonally across the field. He knew he was being watched, he could feel the burn of a hundred gazes upon his back. If he could, he would stare back. Jedd just kept walking.

The bright orange sphere slowly lowered itself slightly, giving the man a break from its intense heat. Sweat was dripping off of him in large droplets, his hair moist and his shirt was slung around his neck. He could hear creatures large and small hunting for his flesh. His flesh. That word stabbed his brain like sharp pins being drove into a pin cushion. He felt his stomach churn and could taste the salty taste of a soldiers arm upon his lips. The devastating memory of eating another human being in pursuit of survival was almost as bad as watching the baboons rip the skin to a pulp.

Jedd kept walking. North. Out of Missouri if he can. His thoughts were torture, his memories were the instruments.  The words “we are the enemy” echoed in his ears. He played little mind games to pass the time. His favorite was “who was eaten”. Where he would pass the remains of natures supper and guess who they were and what they did.

He named this one William Bartholomew Roland. Wild Bill. That was his name at the office. Wild Bill was a numbers cruncher of sorts. An accountant. A thin smile crossed his lips. NO! Wild Bill was a Tax Attorney. He noticed the thick glasses smashed to bits and the nice fabric dress pants clinging to the bones. The entire corpse was nothing but mashed potatoes except for the glasses, the pants, and a very nice pair of black office shoes, so shiny that the need for a mirror was void. Yep. Wild Bill the Tax Accountant. He had two kids,  One boy and one girl.

Jedd paused for a moment. In his pursuit to give life to the dead, he decided to make the life much more interesting. What if...he had two boys? Conjoined twins. About twenty years of age. YES! Wild Bill had conjoined twins and was working on solving the problem of getting them separated. You see something very amazing happened to his sons...Um. Ted And Fred. He laughed. I would be attached to Nedd if I had a twin. He thought to himself.

Ted was accepted to Harvard, but Fred, you see Fred was kind of a failure at life and never even applied for higher education. So should Ted give up an Ivy league education just because he is attached to Fred? Also, Fred liked to drink. A lot. He liked Tequila and loud music and late nights. This was very distracting to Ted, It kept him haggard and effected his grades. What is a father to do?  Jedd liked Wild Bill. A lot. He wished he would have had two sons, One named Ted one named Fred.

Jedd’s sons Ted and Fred. That would have been something worth dying over. Jedd kind of envied Wild Bill. The fact he was nothing more than an elaborate figment of his exhausted imagination was irrelevant at this point.

The screeching got much louder and the heat from the sun started to fade. Evening time was nearing and his legs were putty. He didn’t care. Jedd kept walking vigilantly towards the simply North direction. As his momma would say “Go over Yonder” and point in a general direction. This was good enough for him as a child and is good enough now.

He could see the pod rats gathering in small nasty little herds, The sight didn’t phase him one bit. Jedd just kept his gaze upon the ground and continued to play his little game. Waiting to die. Better to die. He would rather die than live with himself.

A female this time. The remaining fabric indicated a red dress and the few fingers that remained were painted with all of the precision and intensity of an artist. This one was Mary Lou Cartwell. The Matching high heels that lay upon the grass a mere ten feet from her body showed Mary to be very trendy. Mary was a model, She tried everything to become an actress but failed over and over.  Then after her fourth husband, She got a call at the studio one day. She immediately left the photo shoot and was headed to her big break. An audition for a low budget film, but an audition just the same. Her day was fabulous, she was on cloud nine and was dreaming of a wonderful life where everyone knew her name. She was so excited that she didn’t even notice the creatures stalking her. Poor Mary.

“I know your name” Jedd stated plainly

They finally made their appearance just before sunset. Just as Jedd knew they would. He just hoped whoever was playing this same game would give him a much better name then Jedd. He hoped they would look upon his twisted face and name him something cool like Aiden. He also hoped they would give him a set of conjoined twins respectively.

As predicted,  he didn’t fear death. He longed for it. He stared the baboons directly in the eyes peering into their  being. A soul? He doubted they had one, but he has been wrong a lot as of late. He could catch the glimpse of something even larger in the background. One with a long nasty green flowing tail. A pod tiger perhaps? Why not? As he stated, we deserve this.

The stare down lasted a solid two minutes. Words were exchanged in two languages but meaning was not lost. His own voice startled him, breaking the trance.

“Well what are you waiting for?” He said impatiently

The creature shrieked and bared his teeth. hopping backwards and cocking his head slightly to the side. He stared at Jedd both with hunger and confusion. Jedd took a step forward and watched with frustration and wonder as he hopped backwards once more.

How odd is this? I am the one human on the face of the earth that WANTS to be eaten and I find the one picky baboon on this entire forsaken planet. What’s the matter do I not taste good? The thoughts fueled his frustration.

“I know how I taste! I have eaten human flesh. I can still feel my gag reflex.” He spoke to the creature with monotone decibels.

He watched in amazement as the nostrils flared slightly, in and out, breathing in his pungent odor from a day of sweat and mental anguish. Then he was gone. Just like that, the creature fled in pursuit of a more worthy meal. Jedd felt almost rejected.

A hamster running very slowly backwards in a warped metal hamster wheel. This was what it was like for Jedd. The answer to what happened and why was there, it just took an extreme amount of mental muscles to turn the wheel. He saw the nostrils flair. He knew he smelled like sweat and his breath smelled like human flesh. He was invisible to them. Camouflage. The scent of human flesh on his breath fooled the creatures. Are they blind?  Does it matter?

A barrage of questions kept him occupied for many hours before he decided that being a living conundrum was much better than being a dead one. He laughed at the irony of that sentiment. He wanted to live again. He wanted to live just to be the man who spat on mother natures wicked face.

As the sun just started to sleep for the night, Jedd came across one last victim. This time though, He couldn’t bare to give him a name. He heard a nasty wet popping sound as heard the arm rip from the corpse. His stomach churned once again, but Jedd would have to learn to live with that. He slowly pulled the gnawed leather belt from the body and strapped the arm to his back.

He would wield it with pride. A cannibal knight and his sword. His weapon of survival. He would unsheathe it and smile as he bites into the flesh. Oh yes! Jedd would mockingly laugh at them as their nostrils flair and they turn to leave.

“What’s the matter? Aw did I outsmart you?”