Necrocide

Chapter 14

Ten minutes passed as Aaron, Bloodletter, and the rest of the Deadmen prepared to feast. They prowled the darker parts of the forest, stealthily making their way to a campfire hidden among the trees. All Aaron could find as a weapon was a rusty hunting knife.

"Why do I have to tag along?" Aaron asked Harry. "I'm not ready to eat human flesh yet."

"I thought you said he invited you to watch the carnage about to unfold," Harry replied.

"I did," Bloodletter said hoarsely, his voice echoing through his helmet. "I need to see if you can handle the violence you're about to witness, especially because you're gonna need to eat what's left of it. And when this whole thing is over, I expect some answers to my questions."

"Pretty sure I can handle it," Aaron replied. "I saw what you did to London. Had a front row seat."

"Y'know, I wasn't the only one responsible."

"You had that undead binge-eating bitch by your side. I saw her rip out a man's clavicle with just her teeth."

"Did it taste good?" Harry asked.

Aaron glanced toward Harry with an angry expression. "I don't fucking know! I was still sane that day!"

"Plus, he wasn't the one doing the eating," Kyle chimed in.

"Thank you, Kyle," Aaron replied bitterly.

"You idiots clearly don't know how the elements of stealth work," Bloodletter said, pushing away a branch. "Not that I even need it. In fact, you people are the ones who need to remain silent. If these poor bastards have guns, it's lights-out for the rest of you."

Bloodletter held his arm out to keep the rest of the Deadmen from moving forward. Forty feet away behind a wall of trees, nine men were gathered around a bonfire, chuckling at each other's jokes. On the other end of the campsite were three pale bodies hanging from trees, ropes tied around their necks. Unlike the men who were still alive, they were bruised, bloodied, and shirtless. They must've been traitors or hostages.

"Cutthroats," Aaron muttered. "The only human beings equally as savage as Deadmen."

"We can hear you," Jade said, clearly hurt by the comment.

"No, he's right," Bloodletter said. "We're animals. More specifically, you Commoners are animals."

He grabbed Aaron by the arm and pulled him closer. His ear was pressed against Bloodletter's helmet.

"And apparently, these poor devils think I'm responsible for dividing their rations, like they're my pets," he whispered. "But as for me, I kill because I'm bored."

"A conscious person would do something like read a book or play a game if he was bored," Aaron replied. "He wouldn't go around killing innocent people."

"Oh, I'm definitely conscious, boy. And that's why I've been carrying around those horrible memories and anger for the last eight years of my undead existence."

* * *

The nine Cutthroats surrounded the bonfire, each one holding a sandwich. All of them took turns telling sick jokes and laughing at them nonchalantly, ignoring the ambiguously innocent people they'd hanged hours ago. Typical Cutthroat behavior. Aaron wasn't lying when he said they were equally as sinister as Deadmen, maybe even worse since they actually knew what they were doing. In fact, Cutthroats were the only humans the DZI were permitted to kill when exploring the Dead Zone.

Each one had the word Lovecraft emblazoned on them, either as a tattoo or as an insignia on their jackets. Lovecraft was a nearby Babel Tower rumored to be one of the biggest and most advanced towers in the entire Dead Zone. However, it was notorious for its crime and infamous Cutthroat gangs doing inhumane things outside its walls.