Zombie Jesus (12 page)

Fenris opened his eyes, and then stood up. He was in the rainbow warrior’s body and yet could feel his own pulsing beneath her soft flesh. He could sense her presence within his mind, fierce and powerful, eager for the blood of the enemy. Fenris looked about him and saw that his wolves stood with him in the flesh of other rainbow warriors, and he barked a short command. As a pack they turned towards the barricade and began walking, removing their clothes as they moved unmolested through the teeming mass of zombies that clamored around the defenses.

The other warriors still fought the vampires, though were being sorely defeated, their mad-dash attacks tantamount to suicide runs. As the wolves removed their clothes they became more en-meshed with the zombie mob, and the vampire triggermen who defended the wall seemed not to notice, so focused were they on the few warriors who still fought on. As Fenris walked, pushing and shoving his way through the mob of zombies, he could feel his body changing. The wolf that was his true self was about to rise, and Gretchen yielded her flesh to its birth.

The wolf that was Fenris tore its way through Gretchen’s body, the skin ripping and falling away to reveal muscles and fur beneath. Within moments where once walked a one hundred and twenty pound woman strode a nearly five hundred pound monster. Legends of werewolves had sprung from the few survivors of his wrath, and Fenris howled in exultation. He stood nearly seven feet tall, covered in muscle, fur, and bearing claws like knives. His wolves stood smaller than he, though not by much, and soon there were twelve of them approaching the barricades.

Fenris dropped to all fours and began running towards the barricade, followed by his pack. Just before he reached it he stood upright and slammed into the stacked cars, shaking the entire barricade. A warning cry went up from the vampires defending the wall, though it arrived too late as the other wolves reach the barricade. Several hurled themselves into the wall along with Fenris while others scaled its height and attacked from the top. Fenris and his wolves pushed through and the barricade toppled, making a small opening through which the wolves could enter on foot.

Fenris emerged from the breach on all fours and rushed the first vampire he set eyes on, leaping upon the enemy and crushing its head in his powerful jaws. Behind him the breach was disgorging werewolves and zombies alike, and the real battle for Las Vegas began. A vampire wearing swat gear and wielding a machete advanced on Fenris, swinging wildly at the werewolf. Fenris took a slash on the shoulder as he leapt forward to meet the vampire and rose upright, his claws raking across the vampire and ripping it open from groin to throat. As the first vampire fell in a spray of gore Fenris went to all fours to duck under the shotgun blast from a second vampire. He sprinted forward and then threw himself to the side as the vampire fired a second shot, and then rolled behind a car for cover as several more shots pelted around him.

Fenris ran around the other side of the car, drawing the gunman’s fire, then howled with satisfaction as another wolf pounced upon the vampire and tore it to pieces. A vampire blindsided the other werewolf and sunk a fire-axe into the beast’s flank. Before Fenris could reach them the vampire had taken a second strike with the fire-axe and cleaved the wolf’s head from its shoulders. Fenris roared, his estimation of these tentacle-spawn rising as he began trading blows between claw and axe. As quickly as it had begun the contest was over, leaving Fenris standing triumphant over a vampire that had been torn to pieces. He looked up and saw that the zombies had overrun the barricade and were pouring into the perimeter in their hundreds.

Gunfire was rattling all around, as the vampire-shoggoths rallied and counter-attacked the zombie mod. Fenris called out for his wolves to attack other barricades, and then began sprinting on all fours towards the casino pyramid. He soon came upon a small barricade of concertina wire and leapt over it, grasping the head of a gunman as he went and tearing it from its shoulders. There were three more vampires between him and the casino entrance, so he hurled the head at the nearest one, knocking the vampire to the ground in a spray of blood and brains.

Fenris shifted his weight to the side to narrowly avoid machine gun fire, and then dropped to all fours to slip under the hail of bullets as he tackled another vampire. He tore out the creature’s throat as his paws caved in its chest, then a sharp pain in his side sent him sprawling. A vampire had planted a large knife in his ribcage, and was pulling a large revolver from its holster as it advanced. Fenris howled and leapt forward, standing upright as he drew near the vampire and planting both of his claws in the creature’s chest. The revolver barked twice and the bullets ripped through the werewolf’s midsection as the two combatants landed on the hard pavement.

In an instant the vampire’s head exploded in a burst of gore as Fenris snapped his jaws through bone and flesh. The last vampire was staggering to its feet, having removed the helmet that had its faceplate shattered by the hurled decapitated head. Fenris didn’t give the vampire a moment to recover and drove his clawed hand into the creature’s mid-section that its spine was severed. The vampire collapsed in a twitching heap as Fenris stepped past it towards the casino entrance.

There were several vampires inside the casino who had taken up firing positions to cover the entrance, though they had been unprepared for the werewolf god that came smashing through the doors in a storm of glass and fur. They started shooting, though by then Fenris was among them. He swept the head off of one vampire while crushing the chest of another with a powerful stomp kick. In moments he was through their firing line and careening through the casino towards his true enemy in the penthouse above.

THE DYING GOD

He’d been riding for days, following the star, and finally it had led him here. To look upon the city in flames it was hard to imagine having been led elsewhere. Jesus looked out across the city and marveled at what lay before him. Zombies had overrun the defenses of the Sons of Hastur, and the streets were a three-way bloodbath as the Sons battled not only the zombies but also the psychopaths that had joined in the fight. Jesus could hear the howls of wolves above the din of violence, and knew that somewhere beyond the smoke and chaos there were other beasts in the fight.

              The giants of the blue world were never more than minutes behind him, and it had been a hard ride north. The kachina giants were relentless, and he was sure that had he been on any motorcycle but death’s own pale horse he would have perished at their hands long ago. He rode as fast as he dared through the streets, staying steps ahead of the giants, his progress having been slowed greatly by the rubble-strewn streets.

              The North Star had become ever-present in the sky, and he could see it just over the tip of the pyramid that was the Luxor Casino. Jesus cranked the throttle and sped through the chaos. He drove with one hand on the bars and one holding his pistol so that he could gun down any who blocked his path. The messiah threaded his way through the throng of combatants as the forces tore into each other, firing his pistol as he went, heedless of the bullets that tore into his own flesh. The werewolves had knocked down the other barricades and zombies had flooded the perimeter, so now the Sons of Hastur were locked in mortal combat with werewolves, psychopaths, and zombies. Still, the vampire-shoggoths were fearsome opponents, and the fighting was thick. Only steps behind Jesus came the kachina giants, who waded into the fray with abandon to attack everything within reach.

Jesus rode his motorcycle right through the gap in the concertina wire protecting the entrance to the casino. As he entered the main casino floor he could see that the battle had reached even here, and spent his last few rounds gunning down several zombies that came to close. He revved the engine and sped through the main gambling floor and quickly reached the fountain area. He looked up at the sound of a bestial howl and saw a massive werewolf tearing apart a vampire on the fourth floor. As he watched the werewolf leapt out onto the ledge and clawed its way up to the fifth floor to engage another vampire guard.

Jesus dismounted his bike and un-slung his bow, discarding the empty pistol. He ran towards the entrance to the stairs and began rushing up them, doing his best not to slip in the carnage that the werewolf had left in its wake. He knew that he had to get to the top of the pyramid, that much was clear from the position of the North Star above. It seemed to him that the werewolf had the same idea. He pumped his legs as fast as he could and kept running, pausing several times to sink fire arrows into vampires that guarded the steps.

When Jesus reached the top of the stairs leading to the penthouse he heard the werewolf's roar just on the other side. Jesus emerged from the stairwell and was instantly hurled against the wall, then pinned as the werewolf held him in place with its massive claws. Jesus locked eyes with the giant werewolf, and recognition of sorts seemed to pass across the werewolf's features, and it released its grip on him. They stood there for a moment, silent, and then two vampire-shoggoths began shooting at them from the entrance of the penthouse. Jesus drew and loosed an arrow, its flaming point driving into the vampire's chest and causing it to burst into flames. The werewolf shredded the second and Jesus fired another arrow to immolate a third who tried to ambush them.

The wolf and the messiah kicked down the doors of the penthouse and rush in. They were met by the sight of the King in Yellow standing before the long bay windows gazing out across the chaotic city below. The King turned his head towards the two intruders and screamed. He bellowed that the time of the Elder Gods were upon them, that the Darkness Between the Stars had come to claim this world, and that the starspawn would consume them all. As he spoke it seemed as if the world shook, and from outside the windows Jesus could see that massive tentacles had descended from the low clouds and had begun to lash at the kachina giants who had dominated the battlefield.

The King flicked his wrist and a wicked dagger flew from his hands and slammed into Jesus, piercing his side as he fell to the ground. Fenris roared and leapt across the penthouse, his powerful jaws closing around the King's cloaked head as the werewolf ignored the tentacles that sprang forth from the King's outstretched hand. The tentacles pierced the wolf's body and writhed wildly, splattering the room with blood. Fenris bit down and began throwing his head side to side in a frenzy as his own body was torn to shreds. Jesus staggered to his feet, pulled the blade from his body, and winced at the deep cracking sound that came from the King in Yellow as the pressure from the werewolf's jaws finally snapped the Pallid Mask in half. The King's screams fell silent as the dying werewolf swallowed the shattered pieces of the mask, and in moments both bodies lay still in an expanding pool of gore.

Jesus could feel the power of the King begin to fade, and the massive tentacles that reached down from the sky shuddered as one and began flowing towards the pyramid itself as he watched from the window. Knowing he had little time Jesus sprinted for the stairs, taking them two at a time, until he came to the roof access door. He wedged the ritual blade between the latch and the frame and threw his full weight onto the handle, prizing open the lock and opening the door. He stepped out onto the roof and gasped in shock as he got his first full view of Las Vegas.

The kachina giants were grappling mightily with the sky tentacles as static lighting crackled across the city. The giants were fearsome opponents, the old gods of the blue world, though for every tentacle of the starspawn torn apart two more would descend and take its place, and one by one the kachina giants were being overwhelmed. The tentacles would bind the limbs of the giants while more would snake into open mouths and eye sockets, filling the giants with tentacle until they burst in an explosion of lighting and blue light. It was only a matter of time until the kachinas would be finished and nothing would stand to oppose the grasping darkness.

Jesus wept at the futility of it all. A zombie plague had all but wiped out humanity, leaving only a scant few survivors to struggle for life against cannibal corpses and rampaging psychopaths. The giants had emerged from the blue world to restore balance by wiping the slate clean completely. His prophets had given their lives to help him cross into the blue world, and then Horus had resurrected him and given his life as well. The kachina giants, the zombies, the psychopaths, now even werewolves and vampires, all were enemies of humanity and yet something even worse had stolen into the world while they all fought amongst themselves.

It was in that moment of despair that Mary's hand touched his face, and drew his eyes up to hers. She had been waiting for him, keeping faith that he would reach her before the starspawn. He kissed her then, and for the briefest of moments all thoughts of the apocalypse were gone from him. She put her lips to his ears while they held each other and told him of the kachina man on the mesa, and of his sacrifice to help Jesus return to this world. She whispered that she knew not why they had been fated for such lives, and why the divine power would not let them rest. She had faith that there was a divine plan, and though she could not see it she followed the path and played her part. As she spoke Jesus began to understand, and suddenly everything seemed clear to him.

Our story has always been the same my love, he spoke as he stroked her hair and looked out across the burning city, this has all happened before and will happen again. She said that she did not understand, and he un-slung the bow while looking up at the apex of the pyramid, only a short climb from their vantage point. In all the cultures of humanity, he said as he began to climb, the world is the body of a Dying God. The old one's burden has been passed on, and he must take the old one’s place. He had died twice now, once on the cross and once on the stone. His prophets had died beside him, Romeo the thief, and Cisco the murderer. He knew what he must do.