Dead Of Winter by Robert J. Duperre

Author:Robert J. Duperre [Duperre, Robert J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: TRO Publishing
Published: 2010-12-19T23:00:00+00:00

ii

His kingdom spread out before him, a ruined wasteland of scorched houses and gouged administrative buildings. The bridge over the Savannah River hung in the distance like a limp branch. Severed suspension cables drooped below the structure, causing it to sag in the middle. It wouldn’t be able to support another automobile again without some major restructuring.

For Sam this wasn’t a problem, for it had been more than two months since he’d seen a working automobile other than those he kept in his own stables. As far as he was concerned, the sooner they ceased to exist, the better.

He stood on his high perch and watched intently those below him while rain pelted his back. This wretched landscape had once been the Savannah College of Art and Design. In days now relegated to history, students would march these sidewalks, heading for class, heading for a future. There was no future any longer. A new form of humanity had taken up residence, a form that owed its existence to Sam and Sam alone. Pride filled him at the thought of this, made him smile. I did this, he thought. It was me, all me.

A chorus of wretched whimpers reached his ears. He turned his eyes north, in the direction of the dirt knoll that served as the central hub of the Town of the Dead. A cage had been constructed from the hollowed-out remains of a two-story apartment building. Inside this cage were the causes of the whimpering; hundreds of people, normal, uninfected people, packed in like sardines and covered with grime and their own excrement. They were pressed flesh-against-flesh with their neighbors. There was no food for them, no shelter from the elements, and no relief from the horror of their existences. Their bodies were thin and frail from malnutrition. Most would die in a matter of weeks if left alone.

Sam snickered. Dying in that way, he presumed, would be a welcome occurrence for the lot of them given the alternative.

A chorus of grunts and snarls emerged. He flicked his eyes toward the sound. He saw a legion of his children and shivered with excitement. They ambled down the street like a pack of wolves. It was an ever-changing mass of flesh. No single entity stayed in the lead for long, yanked back by their brothers and sisters and made to suffer, through claws and teeth, for the indignity of their hunger.

The throng drew near to the cage. Those within the prison screamed. They crammed their bodies into the rear corner, every bit as fluid a heap as those approaching. Some tried to wedge their way between the makeshift bars of steel and wood, only to have their lives squeezed from them by the pressing horde of frightened people. He heard the sound of snapping bone underneath the cries, prayers, and pleas for mercy. At this his smile grew all the wider.

The onrushing swarm of his children ceased their violent dance once they arrived at the gate. They swayed in place, unconscious of each others’ movements.

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