Trash: Chapter 122 Science Experiments (Patreon)

Chapter 122

Science Experiments

Hearing the distinct sounds of movement, my mind raced. The last time I had heard such noises was on the day I faced off against the Necrotin, having to stave off not one, but two distinct Necrotic Fireballs. Attacks so fierce and effective that my attacker left me for dead, content to let me slowly burn away by the ever-dissolving fireball.

Even now, I feel a faint burning sensation on my forearms, and other parts of my body that I tried to use to shield against the full impact of the flames. While I had been able to stop the attack at the moment, dissolving the still burning plasma part, that pain still lingered. Fortunately, the next person to find me was Madame Bloom, who took me as her Apprentice and the rest is, as they say, history. I was healed, managed to learn my own healing arts, so I would never be subjected to such a lowly condition again, and now I am back in that same park, tracking down those same sounds. This time though, I feel a bit reassured as I have Mr. Yi by my side.

Part of me hopes it is the same Necrotin, the one with a slightly skinnier face than my body’s biological mother had. A face that seemed to gain satisfaction knowing that others were slowly withering and dying. They left, knowing that there was nothing that any struggling their victims could do, could fix the condition they were in.

Unfortunately for her, she underestimated me. Now I was back with Mr. Yi someone who seems like they delight in hunting those very monsters that the rest of us fear. Glancing out of the corner of my eye, I can see the faint glint of a smile, as he no doubt heard the stories of what happened to me here. How the Madame herself had to race in to save me.

More rustling, and creaking sounds could be heard.

This time, it didn’t sound like just one person, but multiple were all moving, and seemingly dragging themselves across the ground.

Once we crested the small ridge, and found what appeared to be a small hollow. A hollow that would be relatively unremarkable, maybe a spot to gather shade on a particularly sunny day. The depression wasn’t too extreme, just a few dozen feet down, and seem to be covering roughly two thirds of a large area, surrounded by trees. Which explained the dry rustling cracking sound that seemed to echo about a bit, as the sound waves bounced off the rock walls.

Looking down, I expected to see a lot of things, maybe the attacker resting in an unknown alcove. Maybe two attackers conspiring silently together. What I was not prepared for was what I saw.

Crawling and climbing their way out of the ground, as if part of some odd pet cemetery were the dead and decaying bodies of animals. Looking down at the zombified husks rising from the ground, dragging and clawing their way out of their now half buried states, I just paused. My brain unable to process what I was seeing.

Standing next to me, Mr. Yi chose this moment to speak.

“This is the effect of secondhand Z-Rot and its effects on an already dead and decaying body.”

“Secondhand Z-Rot,” I managed to stammer out. I wanted to say more, to ask more, but my voice broke as I saw the monstrous and snarling creatures desperately clawing crazedly for life.

“Yes, this is why we must burn the bodies of creatures infected with Z-Rot, for even if the host is dead, there is a chance that the disease can dig deeper, finding any corpse and bring it back to life, even the bodies of the dead.”

“How is that possible?”

Mr. Yi, just shook his head, “no one knows, not for certain, but there is a good thing to realize.”

“What’s that?”

“That these secondhand bodies infected by Z-Rot, they are far weaker than a first living body. If we were to watch them, you would see how their muscles break down quickly, assuming they don’t find other creatures to eat on for sustenance, then they would soon burn out, devouring their remaining flesh and muscles, until they were finally unable to move. But even then, the virus would remain dormant until awoken by more blood, at which point it would be able to spread once more,” Mr. Yi, first he never speaks, then he is a whole history lesson on gothic horrors that I’d rather not know about. Finally, I ask.

“Well what do we do?”

“Me, I would have to go down and strike them all with a holy infused sword,” Mr. Yi stated while gently lifting his sheathed blade from his hip.  Hearing his words, I realized he didn’t want to go down there.

“But you have a different plan, I take it?” I ask, a bit confused.

“Yes, these monsters while weaker, are more wild and less predictable, it is advised to always take them out from a distance when you can.”

I look at him like he is stupid, “okay then, how do we do that?”

“We don’t,” he said, while gesturing first to himself then me. Then he continued, “but you can sing, if you project your voice far enough, this might be the perfect height to hit everything down below.”

As he spoke, I realized that he was right on multiple accounts. From here, we were at just the right height that I think I could cover the entire hollow below with embers from a song.

I take a deep breath, and see that he is there, arms crossed and just staring at me, waiting for me to begin.

Seeing him staring, I feel slightly flustered for a second, as I am still not used to singing in front of people. In my past life, I did so in the car, and a few times while cleaning up the hospital, but never on demand, never like this, which is why I make sure to make this a little less embarrassing for me.

“Okay, but don’t judge me,” I warn, before going back, pausing and then letting a song come to mind.

“Go back to your grave.

It’s time to be brave.

Let this world fade

Sleep, sleep, it all away

Next time you wake

It won’t be a mistake—”

As I sing, I don’t even look down, instead I look up, at the distance my golden infused words are traveling outwards, then I project further. Digging deeper, hitting louder cords that vibrate deep within me. In the end, I find that I don’t care about the words, my mind looping and finding rhyming couplets almost automatically, as I just look for words of power to attach my energy to.

Then I get to see something truly magical happen. I get to watch as all the golden holy and green healing flakes and motes of energy begin falling and descending downward. The green healing flakes are a bit heavier, or at least appear to be, as they are the first to fall to the ground, followed closely by the glittering golden snowflakes. They are amazing to watch as they twinkle and seem to burn their way down.

Down below, I can hear the sound of grunting, and increased movements, for a moment. Only to be replaced the next moment by panicked grunts and attempts to escae, but that is all drowned out as I sing louder, my voice going clearer. I even repeat a few bars and stanzas, looping back, and allowing my mind to add more emphasis to each note. Each increased emphasis has a direct impact on the power attached to each subsequent note.

Then finally, the rustling below stops, as all signs of neurotically reincarnated life seems to stop. That’s when I push through, finding a moment to end the song.

“Goodnight,

Goodnight,

Until we meet again

At the very end”

I pause, panting slowly, but forcing my body to stand firm and recover as I watch the last of my green and golden infused words travel out, and then fall like two thickly layered magical blankets. Blankets that spreads out, covering the ground and draping everything from the base of the wall to the hollow almost in its entirety.

Looking down, I can see dark pools of corrupted blood pouring from the dead and infected creatures. Pools that have golden flakes of light fall, land and immediately combust part of the liquid. It is incredible.

I even see signs of how monsters that had already clawed their way free, seemed to have charged towards the center, apparently clamoring for my green motes of healing energy, only to be caught a moment later in a layer of burning holy energy. Watching it all, I could see how some of the last few motes of healing energy seemed to draw darker forms of energy to the surface of the beasts they were in, breaking the surface of the skin to devour the crisp energy. Only to then be burned away the next moment, when the trailing layer of golden flakes settled down and burned their way through the exposed pockets of dark energy. That’s when I saw the bleeding effect, the effect of the dark goo seeming to lose its cohesiveness and melt to the ground, only to pool the way blood would. If blood had been mixed with battery acid, and other harsh chemicals to force a body to run even after its natural lifespan ended.

Bit by bit, this world was revealing itself to me in horrific ways, and suddenly I was glad to have been given a childhood. Even a childhood where I thought the worst thing possible were the DiVoratore family members was a nice reprieve to this, to realize that this future awaits us, if we are not careful. Maybe it did make the harsh realizations of reality a bit harder to process when we saw them, but I don’t think I would have ever willingly come to this park, had I known this was a possibility.

Watching the carnage below, I was at a loss, though I think I could finally see a faint line of life energy coating the hollow. A sheen that was protected by an upper layer of holy energy, making it so the life energy might stick. For a moment, I wondered if I should sing again, and make the coating of life energy permanent, well more permanent, but I was stopped by the normally stoic Mr. Yi.

“Not bad kid, now let’s see if we can find out what caused this outbreak.”

“Wait, something had to have caused this?” I ask, following Mr. Yi who has already turned to go the quickest way down the ridge we are on and to inspect the hollow below.

“Yes, this Park has been here for centuries, and there has never been an outbreak of Z-Rot here, not until now. That is why we have to—” he paused, as the answer to his question became apparent almost immediately.

Seeing his sudden stop, I too paused as I tried to understand what could make him stop mid-sentence. That’s when I followed his gaze and saw what caused him to stop in his tracks completely.

“It can’t be,” was three-word response, the only response I could offer to what I saw before me.