'Til Death Do Us Part

CHAPTER THREE

Eliza &Tomas

“Your face is priceless, brother,” Eliza exclaimed.

“It is a shame, dear sister, that the only time you show anything remotely similar to a smile is at the expense of others,” Tomas replied sadly.

“Come, brother, share in my happiness…our victory,” she stressed. “With Michael Talbot out of the way, there is now nothing that can stop us. And yet you still pine for him and his family, don’t you? We will meet up with his family soon enough, you can say your good-byes then.”

“What? I thought we were done with the Talbots, let them be, they have lost their father, what more could you possibly do?”

“You cannot be that naïve, Tomas, can you? Michael has left spawn behind. I will not let them walk this world any longer than necessary, he has two boys who could spread their seed far and wide and even now the girl swells with another. No, they are like vermin. I must snuff them out while I have them at their lowest and most vulnerable. But first things first, I believe that some of his traveling party are still in this city. There is time enough that we can stay and watch the festivities.”

“What have you planned, sister?” Tomas asked.

“I am going to wield my full might upon this accursed hovel of humanity.”

“Eliza, have you stopped to think what you will do for sustenance once you have wiped out the humans?”

“Relax, brother, I cannot stand the hairless monkeys, but I respect their ability to adapt and survive. Right now I just want to have some fun.”

“Having fun means laughing, being with the ones you love, go-karts.”

“I do not know about the go-karts, Tomas, but I will laugh as the humans run fruitlessly for their pathetic lives and you at least love me, is that not enough?”

“I think you’re missing the point, Eliza.”

“My zombies will be in place soon. Come, let us find a better vantage point that we can watch from. And I’m starving anyway…this will flush some of them out.”

Tomas paled.

“And I know that you are hungry, you have not eaten in days.”

Tomas could not deny the fact that his gut was twisted in knots as it begged for food. He was repulsed every time he fed, but he could not control himself, the hunger was too great. He could feed off animals in an emergency but it was equivalent to a human sustaining life by eating lettuce.

“I see that you are not disagreeing. Soon, brother, you will be able to drink to your heart’s content.”

“I curse you for what you have done to me, Eliza.”

“You should have stayed home with papa,” she sneered, recalling their days in Germany some five hundred years ago.

“You were all I had, Lizzie,” Tomas said as he bowed his head.

“It appears that is as true today as it was back then.” She laughed, but it had more to do with the irony of her statement than mirth. “This will work,” Eliza said as she stood on a small hill that overlooked a vast portion of the town below.

“Oh God,” Tomas intoned as he saw the black smudge of zombies that dominated the horizon.”

“God, Tomas? Really? You might as well ask for Jesus and that fat man the children seem to worship.”

“Santa?”

“I suppose, I never stop to ask questions as I feed, I find it distracting.”

“Those are people, Eliza, with hopes and dreams.”

“I am a predator, Tomas, I care not for the prey. Does a lion sit in self-doubt about the harm it bestows upon the gazelle?”

“I understand what you are. What we are,” he corrected when Eliza arched an eyebrow at him. “But what you are doing now is not the natural order of things. Lions don’t kill indiscriminately, wiping out everything.”

“Spare me the lesson in morality, brother, I care not. I like to watch the humans suffer, it brings me enjoyment. And stop trying to control my herd, I can feel you trying to send messages to them. They will listen only to me.”

Tomas looked back at his sister, unsure what to do next. He sat on the grass to watch as the first of the zombies entered the town. His vision alternated between looking at the ground and watching as the zombies advanced, he was caught completely unawares as he sensed something. He wasn’t sure what it was, and was fearful to look up at his sister lest he give it away, she was completely fixated on the town below.

Michael? He thought it without transmitting the message, his sister would surely figure out what was going on if he did that, and as of yet he wasn’t sure. It was as if he was ‘seeing’ Michael through the wrong end of a telescope. There wasn’t much to hold on to, it was so faint that he thought it was most likely just residual feelings. But still it nagged around the edges of his mind. It is! he thought excitedly. It’s probably too faint for Eliza to pick up especially with her so focused on controlling the zombies.

Tomas began to emit what he could only describe as waves of white noise, much like televisions without a satellite or cable signal.

“I’ve already told you, brother, you cannot wrest control of the zombies from me. I am in direct communication with them and this static will not disrupt that.”

Tomas began to shiver with the effort to broadcast even louder as the signal from Michael grew from imperceptible to miniscule.

“What are you doing, Tomas? You begin to annoy me.”

“I thought that I might be able to stop them this way,” Tomas lied.

“I already told you this would not work yet you continue.”

Tomas could ‘feel’ Eliza probing through the ‘noise’ trying to figure out what he was up to. He literally began to vibrate from the effort of expanding so much energy and was unsure how long he would be able to conceal Michael’s presence.

Eliza was closing in; she was adept with the workings of the mind after so many millennia of practice.

Tomas urged Mike on, but to where? And to what end? Eventually she would discover that her sworn enemy still yet breathed air, and Tomas could tell that the thread from which Mike’s life hung was frayed and would not be able to take much strain. Tomas amped up his concealment just as Eliza was closing in. Just when he felt that all was lost, he lost Michael completely. He rocked backwards, breathing heavily from the mind strain.

“Done now, brother?” Eliza asked clearly confused.

Tomas did not answer. He was still trying to figure out what had just happened.