The First Resurrection - Part I
Read Part II
“The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame. And now, my son, this is the restoration of which has been spoken by the mouths of the prophets”
Alma 40:23-24
Porter slammed the door shut behind him. He quickly fastened the column of deadbolts and locks that secured the door in place. Sweat dripped down his neck as he slumped down to the floor with his back against the door. He wiped his brow as he slowly regained his composure. His breathing finally slowed and his heart stopped pounding in his ears. He let his head fall backwards and looked up at the ceiling. That’s when Cecilia appeared at the bottom of the staircase.
“You’re back” she said “how was it today?”
“Still a ton of them out there. I was able to avoid getting seen for the most part. But I had a close call about a half mile before home. One came sniffing around the corner. But I was able to outrun it. It didn’t seem to follow me though. We must not have been a match.”
“And it didn’t see you come inside right?”
“No, I made sure it was out of sight.”
“Good.”
They paused for a moment until Cecilia broke the silence once more.
“Did you find it?”
“No, not this time. But I did find this.” Porter fished around in his pocket and pulled out an old piece of paper that had obviously been folded in a hurry. “I think it might be a clue.”
He handed the paper to Cecilia who unfolded it. She sat down on the stairs as she started to read.
Hearken, O ye elders of my church, saith the Lord your God, who have assembled yourselves together, according to my commandments, in this land, which is the land of Missouri, which is the land which I have appointed and consecrated for the gathering of the saints.
Wherefore, this is the land of promise, and the place for the city of Zion.
And thus saith the Lord your God, if you will receive wisdom here is wisdom. Behold, the place which is now called Independence is the center place; and a spot for the temple is lying westward, upon a lot which is not far from the courthouse.
She looked up. “You think this is the place?”
“It matches the other scriptures the best. It’s the closest description I’ve seen. It must be why most scriptures were targeted and destroyed by them. They know it's where we can be safe.”
“What if you’re wrong? What if there’s nothing there? We are safe enough here.” Cecilia said.
“We won’t be safe here forever. They seem to be getting more agitated. I’ve…. I’ve heard rumors on the radio. They say some of them are starting to combine. Starting to grow larger and more violent. This safety won’t last forever. We have enough food that we could make the trek there. We have that old map. It’ll take us a while, but we can make it.”
“Let me think about it.”
“We need to go sooner than later. We should leave first thing in the morning. If anything, it’ll be less dense out there. We’ll be better off there either way.”
“Do you think there are already people there?” Cecilia asked.
Porter paused. “Maybe, I mean, people that grew up believing in this, in the Millennium, they probably knew where to go immediately. Before things got bad. Right when the cellular networks and internet went down, they probably went straight there.”
“None of this feels real still. It feels like a dream. Ever since Jane…”
“I miss her too… but, we need to keep moving forward. We have to try and survive. If the Mormons were right about all this other stuff, I mean, minus the walking dead out there, they got a lot of the rest of it right though. This page came out of their scriptures. It’s the only thing I know to do next. Otherwise… I don’t know any other moves to make.”
He paused again and looked at the floor. His head hung with the weight of the past 7 years. Terrible years.
“This is the last shot we have.” he finally said.
Cecilia hesitated, then swallowed and nodded her head.
“Ok. Let’s do it.”
***
They woke early the next morning when the cover of the darkness would make it easier to slip past some of the more populated areas. They crept out of the old abandoned townhouse they called home and started heading towards the wild. Once they were out of the city they would be a lot safer. They only stayed there because there were a lot more supplies. The creatures didn’t eat anything. They were just waiting until they were perfected. Once that happened, they would be translated in the blink of an eye. Porter had seen it happen once. The creature had gotten close enough to someone to exhume their particles from their victim. It must have been their last few pieces, because suddenly the creature exploded into a bright light. Wings had sprouted from its back and it took to the sky. Once they had reached perfection there was nothing left for them down here.
Porter had walked over to the creature’s victim afterwards. It had been a young man, not many years younger than Porter himself. Half of one of his eyeballs had disappeared with a clean break. Then another large chunk of his torso was cleanly separated from his body. There was no blood. Instead it looked like someone had loaded the man’s picture into an old Microsoft paint editor, then proceeded to simply erase different parts of him. He was covered with small holes and divots all over his body.
Some people could survive such attacks if they were lucky and the creatures only exhumed a few particles from them. They might not be able to walk. They frequently suffered brain damage. But most people died instantly. When random parts of your heart and brain just disappear, it's tough for your body to keep going.
Not every creature and every person was a match. The creatures only wanted to find the particles that used to belong to them when they were alive. They had no interest in particles that were never part of their being. So if you got lucky you would come across one who acted like you weren’t even there.
That young man hadn’t been so lucky. He had been ripped to pieces at the subatomic level…
Porter shivered at the memory of the boy's face. The hole ridden face and eyeball that sat there waiting for another creature to come find it. To steal even more particles from his corpse.
All things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame, he thought to himself. Nothing more perfect than killing others to get your body back.
He had been so lost in thought that he didn’t even notice that Cecilia had stopped right in front of him. He collided right into her back and nearly sent her tumbling over.
“Watch it!” she hissed. “Look, over there.”
They had been walking along a freeway with old broken down cars littered across the road. They were just about to cross an overpass that ran next to an old strip mall. He followed her finger down to where they could see a small congregation of creatures, all standing idly by one corner of the strip mall. The sun had just barely started to rise to illuminate one side of the building.
The creatures nearly resembled walking skeletons. Some of them had a patch of flesh here or there. One or two had the makings of internal organs in their rib cages. The restoration process was random, depending on which particles they recovered first. It was otherworldly, they way that their recovered flesh would float in the midair, attached to nothing. Porter could never decide which stage of restoration was the most unpleasant to look at. Those that had just started collecting, those who were nearly finished, or those who were somewhere in between.
“Most of them look like bare bones,” Porter said. “They won’t be fast then. One or two look a bit more restored to me. But if we crouch down low, they probably won’t even notice us.
“Right” Cecilia, “let’s just stay focused.”
“Sorry. I’ll keep my wits about me.”
They crouched slowly forward, making sure to keep their heads behind the overpass guard rails. As they reached the apex of the overpass, they could make out the sounds of the creatures below. They would scratch the ground to communicate with each other. Those that had recovered their tongues could manage low levels of speech, depending on how much of their brain they had back. But there seemed to be a threshold where gaining more brain didn’t help them speak more. Porter always wondered if they realized what they were really doing. Was it all instinct, or did at some point they realize their perfection meant someone else’s destruction? Did they realize it, but not know how to stop?
As they reached near the other side of the overpass, they checked behind them to make sure none of the creatures had noticed them. They all seemed content with where they were.
“Hey, some of these cars don’t look as ransacked.” Cecilia said. “Should we make a quick check for supplies?”
“Sure, but let's be quick about it. I hate being so close to them.”
No one knew for sure how the creatures knew where to go before their eyes or ears had been recovered. Some had made guesses that they somehow could feel the vibrations of movement in their bones. That’s why the bare bones moved so slowly and were easier to avoid.
Cecilia fiddled with a red car’s door for a few moments until she was able to pry it open. She scrounged around in the glove box and backseat while Porter kept watch.
She popped out of the car smiling. “Found a decent knife, some matches, and a few cans of food. They are only a year past their expiration date too. They look to be in good shape. I wonder why no one ever pilfered this spot before.”
“Great, now let's get going.” Porter said.
“Just one or two more, that green car looks pristine to me.”
“Fine, just hurry up.”
Cecilia approached a green sedan. She jiggled the handle and opened the door. Porter looked around nervously when he heard Cecilia scream.
He whipped his head around to see what was happening. She pulled her head out of the car. A chunk of her left ear was missing. As if it had been erased. She was breathing heavily and fell to the ground.
“It's… its… in the trunk. She stammered out.”
They jumped as they heard a loud thump against the top of the car’s trunk.
“Are you ok? What all did it get? I see part of your ear is gone.”
“I don’t think much else.” Cecilia said. “I think I’m going to be ok. I only saw it for half a second when I pulled down the drink holder between the seats.” For some reason, exhuming only worked when there was a direct line of sight with nothing between a creature and its victim. You had to be close, within a foot or two, for them to steal your particles.
They heard the thump against the trunk once more.
Porter rushed to help Cecilia get up. He noticed a small chunk of one leg was gone too, just a bit around the shin.
“Let’s get out of here.” he said as he started to help her walk. They moved quickly in an effort to put some distance between the sedan and themselves.
“I’m alright.” She said, removing Porter’s arm from around here. “I can do this.”
As she said the words, they heard a thump and crash from the car behind them. They turned and saw that the trunk had fallen off its hinges. A half formed human shape emerged from the trunk. It had a couple of toes in place, along with the chunk of Cecilia’s leg and ear. It had a few strands of dark brown hair floating above it in midair. One eyeball was present, along with some flesh around the fingers. It had a long way to go, but an eye and fingers could go a long way.
That’s when they saw it reach down and start to slam the car in a rhythmic fashion. Thump, thump, thump. They turned to start running. As they did so, they saw that some of the creatures that had been at the strip mall were rounding the corner of the overpass, heading in their direction. They had no eyes, but with each thumping sound, they would sprint a few yards. As if it were a signal that nothing was in their way.
“Run!” Porter yelled. They ran across the overpass, hoping the creatures would keep heading towards the thumping. But the thumping changed rhythms and the creatures suddenly turned to follow them. Porter had never seen them operate in such unison before.
They reached the bottom of the overpass and turned to head into a side street. There appeared to be some homes and buildings in that direction. If they could find a locked place to hunker down they would be fine.
The creatures were clumsy, despite the aided directions of the thumping sound. They turned a corner of a small gas station where they could no longer see the creature next to the sedan. The thumping stopped.
Around the corner they found the gas station’s entrance. It had been ransacked long ago, with the front doors smashed to pieces. Porter pointed to a bathroom in the back. They raced to it, and closed the door behind them. They looked around, but unfortunately there was nothing in the bathroom to barricade the door with but an old trash can. There was a small window in the corner of the room however.
“I’ll hold the door.” Porter said. “If they follow us in here, I’ll hold them back, you dive out the window. I’ll follow right after you. I can outrun them, and they won’t be able to follow us out the window.”
She nodded and then moved the trash can into place in front of the window. She stood atop it and looked outside.
“All clear” she said.
“Good, now we wait. Maybe they won’t find us here.”
The moments ticked by slowly. How long had it been? A minute? An hour? The silence and the waiting was excruciating.
“Maybe it's clear.” Porter finally said. “Maybe we should go out the…”
A heavy crash sounded against the bathroom door which Porter was pressed against. He took a step back against the blow but managed to hold it in place.
“Go!” he said, “I’ll be right behind you!” Cecilia hesitated for a half second, then started to climb through the bathroom window. She managed to squeeze her way through then fell through to the other side.
“Coast is clear!” she yelled through the window.
Porter waited until the next large crash hit the door. Once the pressure was gone, he made a break for the window. He had a few second head start and was atop the trash can when a creature barreled its way through the bathroom door.
Porter looked behind his back for a split second, then froze in place.
The creature looked unlike anything he had seen before. Instead of a human-like shape, it was a complex tangle of muscle, bones and sinew. Instead of two legs, it had 6 legs, made out of various bones arranged in various incorrect places. Three eye balls hung in midair in the middle of it. Muscle was distributed here and there throughout its ghastly structure.
My God, it's true… They are combining just like people said… he thought to himself.
Porter dove out the window, but not before the creature had gotten close enough that he felt the tip of his nose remove itself from him and attach itself to the abomination.
He landed on the ground with a thud as the giant creature stuck one of its eyeballs out through the window. Cecilia pulled the knife she had found a few minutes ago out from her pocket and hurled it at the creature’s eyeball. It recoiled in pain as the knife made contact.
Cecilia and Porter got up and ran for their lives. They made sure to run without ever looking back.
TO BE CONTINUED