The Divided Earth

The Heart of Zaghloul

"Isn't it strange?" Jennifer turned and softly spoke to the stern looking man nervously sitting next to her.

"Isn't what strange?" The skittish man replied.

"Life'" she said without looking up.

The man's grim expression disappeared. He smiled at her and cleared his throat. "It's not life that's strange, it's the odd creatures that do the living. But then I guess that's what makes life so interesting... don't you agree?"  

Before Jennifer could answer a loud clatter reverberated from outside. She along with nine others became silent. The group was clustered in the back corner of a bar. They scattered and rushed to the front window when they heard the commotion ring out.

Seeking sanctuary, Jennifer slipped her arm around the skittish man. "yes" Jennifer whispered. "Yes what?" the nervous man whispered back. "Yes, I agree. It is the odd creatures that make life strange." She stared intensely through the clear window at the disorder outside. 

"My name is Thomas." He soberly said. Then he reluctantly returned her embrace. They both stood guarded in front of a large picture window. Soon others timidly pressed closer for security.

Chaos escalated outside the little bar. A plague of bleached figures stumbled down the narrow street. Their pale anemic faces hardly distinguishable from the whites of their eyes. All had thick white hair framing dull blank stares.  Everyone in the eerie procession appeared to be under a hypnotic trance. They walked in unison as if their intent had been orchestrated by some sinister puppeteer. In the middle of the hexed crowd was a gigantic monstrous creature.  

The behemoth was repugnant. Deep pink ooze dripped from orifices all over its body. Its face had no visible eyes. The cranium of the colossus was covered with mouths filled with razor sharp teeth. Sharp tongues randomly jutted from the holes in his head. Thomas was astonished at the site.

Oddly enough, some in the bar knew of this dreadful creature and it's horde. The gargantuan beast was called Zaghloul. It was an alien from some distant world. In the center of the aliens chest was an enormous transparent globe.

The clear orb composed the better part of the Zaghlouls' torso and was filled with a pink glowing liquid. Swimming in the liquid was an unspeakable horror that closely resembled a colossal human heart.

"Oh my God, what is that thing?" Jennifer cried out.

"That is Zaghloul and in his chest is the Heart of Zaghloul." someone in the crowd answered.

"Keep it down everyone." Thomas quietly muttered. He strained his eyes to get a better look at the giant mutant. He fixed his gaze on the heart like thing centered in the Zaghloul's   chest. Thomas's soul collapsed once his eyes adjusted to the dim sunlight of dusk. Four white eyes grotesquely rolled and turned in the heart-like pulpy mass. 

"You see them don't you?" a small boy standing close to Thomas timidly sounded.

"He sees them son." The boys father, standing directly behind him, added. "Zaghloul is a mindless critter. Swimming in the monsters chest are two symbiotic twins. Each resembles a lobe in the human heart. Zaghloul's behavior is controlled by those two joined things in its chest."

"That thing in his chest is the heart of Zaghloul." The small boy began to cry.

"It's going to be ok son," the man assured the boy. "My name is Glen and this is my son Aden," he shook Thomas's hand, "We live in the next county over the ridge. This thing appeared in our town a few days ago... and now..." He bit  his bottom lip to curb the overwhelming feeling of despair that was about to materialize as a stream of water down his cheek.