?That damn dogs still with us? exclaimed Sir Marmaduke, looking out of the rear window, ?doesn?t he ever tire?.
?Stop the bus and let her in? cried Amelia.
?I?ll not have dog hairs and muddy paw prints all over Esmeralda?s upholstery, it?s still in pristine condition, factory fresh don?t you know. It?s bad enough that we picked up that scruffy oik on the road side without having a dirty dog in here as well?.
I was that scruffy oik he was referring to and I suppose he had a point, I?d spent a few days on the road, trying to stay out of trouble but sometimes it just follows you around like a stray dog. I?d been quite happy sailing my 24? yacht up and down the east coast until the day I pulled into Boston Creek just as it went dark and they came aboard. Three of them, wild eyed, arms flailing, screaming BRAINS, what the hell, they were dripping blood and other matter that I didn?t want to even think about let alone see on my scrubbed pine decks.
?Get the hell off here? I shouted, one tripped on the foresail sheet and fell overboard with a splash but the other two came at a stumbling walk along the side decks. One on either side, well it?s not a big boat they had to do that. I shoved one with the boat hook and his arm fell off. What the hell, so I hit him, a wild scything blow and the hook end of the boat hook stuck in his leg and I pulled. Damn me if his leg didn?t fall off. Strangely with only 1 leg and 1 arm he seemed out of balance and fell overboard. The first one had gone down with only a splash and hadn?t reappeared so I didn?t worry that this one would do any better. It?s not often you see a one armed, one legged person doing the crawl. Well not in the water at least, although I?ve since seen them doing it on land and a damn funny sight it is.
Well until you realise that if you don?t move they will grab you and then eat you?.eventually.
The third one made a grab for me and I dodged but caught the hurricane lantern a glancing blow with the back end of the boat hook and smashed the glass cover, oil spilled onto the deck. Burning oil and that was it, Maybelle caught fire, it ran along the deck like a goblin and caught the sails that were still lightly furled. I went over the side like a fish and struck out for the shore, only a few yards away. The last figure burned like a pitch torch, screaming and howling before sliding down onto the deck. Maybelle was an inferno and I took to the road.
Three days later I had my thumb out, waving in the air and got a lift from these people in Esmeralda.
?Let the dog in Marmaduke? said Delores, ?Amelia is right, she?s proved her worth these last few days, even pulled your cherries out of the fire on one occasion, I don?t see why???..
And the sentence was never finished because Amelia who was driving, hit a pothole and there was a loud popping sound at the front right tyre blew.
?No spare I?m afraid? muttered Marmaduke ?but this is Jack Snipes place and very coincidentally he refurbishes Esmeralda?s in his spare time. There?ll be tyres in the barn?.
?I wonder if he?s still about the place? and was just about to shout Hello Jack when Delores put her hand over his mouth. ?Don?t be such an old fool, They might be here too?.
By ?They? she was referring to the creatures who had boarded my boat, bloodthirsty humanoids (a bit like Politicians or Bankers) who try to devour you alive and make you dead, sometimes you even come back after being devoured, alive but dead! Or is that dead but alive?
It?s a bit complex and I don?t fully understand the process but haven?t studied it seriously yet.
Sure enough there was a small group of Things that Amelia kept calling Zombies, I think she read a lot of pulp fiction when she was younger and has associated these things with fanciful creatures from her books. Thank goodness it wasn?t Fairy Tales she read rather than Pulp Fiction or we?d be fighting Giants, Gobblins and Trolls.
Anyway they appear to be attracted to humans, generally as I?ve said to devour them. Their eye sight seems to be pretty good, hearing not so good and their brains seem to have dissolved into some sort of jelly like mush, so they are as stupid as stupid gets.
Well this is the opening of a Zombie Adventure, They seem all the rage at the moment and were the reason I got back into wargaming 7 or 8 years ago so I've posted the full game on my blog,
https://vagabondswargamingblog.blogspot.com/2025/03/down-on-farm.htmlHopefully you're at such a loose end you might pop over there and have a gander.
Cheers
15 March 2011, 08:48:05 PM
