Last year I visited Babbage and witnessed the escape of Mr. Footman’s reanimated man. I didn’t really stick around long enough then to witness the fallout, but since moving here earlier this year I’ve heard stories that the dead occasionally rise and walk the streets.
Surely these were rumors, right? A body reanimated by science is certainly possible in Babbage, but an unassisted corpse actually digging up through the ground and liberating itself under its own power? Preposterous!
Well, that’s what I thought until Tuesday evening. I was working on renovating that small tea shop when Sky happened to walk by. We were chatting for a few moments when I happened to notice a figure emerge from between the Curious Seamstress and To-A-T shops. My eyes were immediately glued to the rotting form that was dragging itself our way. I asked the all too obvious question of what it was and that caused Sky to turn to take a look.
We were both armed and drew our weapons immediately. The cracking of the report from Sky’s pistol joined the thunder boom of my shotgun as we backed away. The thing flinched and desiccated tissue sprayed from its torso but it kept coming toward us. The thing was much quicker than I had heard in the tales I had been regaled with. We ran down the stairway to the docks and it ambled on past us in the direction of Clockhaven.
We took a breather, reloading and wondering if what just happened had really happened. We debated going after it and discussed what we could possibly do should we even find it again. That conversation was cut short when it reappeared. It seemed to have trouble navigating the steps down to the docks. We actually thought we were safe, but to our dismay it finally managed its way, coming right toward us.
We once again opened fire on what was once a person, stepping back closer to the edge of the dock. It jerked and stumbled as round after round slammed into its body. I counted at least six slugs from my shotgun before it finally collapsed to the ground in a heap.
Neither of us wasted any time reloading, ensuring that we kept our distance. It was a good thing, too, because it roused and tipped its head forward to look at us, those cold dead eyes seemingly unfocused as it reached out and grabbed the dock, pulling itself forward and toward us.
Even crawling along the thing was fast! We brought our guns to bear and began emptying more rounds into it, bits of gory flesh flying and splattering on the dock. We were backed to the edge of the dock before it dropped once again, lying prone several feet before us.
Once again we reloaded, first her and then I, keeping cover as we moved around it so we weren’t backed against the water. We finally realized it was over and discussed what to do with it. Was it going to rise yet again? It was hard to believe it would, but then it was hard to believe it had been moving in the first place.
Yang arrived on the scene, looking on in wonder at the bullet riddled mass on the ground. I decided it was safer to burn it. I checked a couple open crates and pulled the cork on something that smelled very alcoholic. Sky covered me as I got close to the body and doused it with the liquid, lit a match and dropped it on the corpse.
Sure enough the thing went up in flames. The smell was horrendous; in fact I think I can still smell it. We backed away and let it burn, reducing it to ashes in what seemed like a very short period of time.
The ash blew away in the breeze, and we were left to wonder how many more could be out there, waiting to attack the next unwary passerby.
The ones I’ve dealt with are slow and my steam shotgun puts them down in three or four shots. This sounds like a new type.
I would be fascinated if they weren’t so dangerous. As it is I am of the . . ahem, ‘Kill it with fire’ school of thought.
*Grins*
careful in the graveyard, there’s been a couple off and on in there