The Animated Corpse
I am trapped inside of this decaying body although my thoughts are crystal clear and completely intact. None of my actions are of my own free will and I have no idea who my puppet master really is. I am not sure if I am in the underworld but this land has been shattered and is totally different than the world that I belonged to before my reanimation. The blue skies of my past life have been replaced with the gloom of despair that surrounds me as I wander through this dreadful territory.
It is a daily torture to remember my old life of abundance and happiness. My name was Romero and the world that I use to belong to, when I was truly alive, consisted of a vast kingdom that was unified and worked together as an advanced civilization. I had reached my ripe age and passed away from natural causes, I was embalmed then laid to rest in the high burial ground. I must have stayed there, resting peacefully, for hundreds of years. I can remember a beautiful feeling of freedom and light while I was on the other side of life. One day that feeling of light was ripped away from me as every corpse in our burial ground dug their way out of their muddy graves being enchanted by some type of evil force. I saw my friends and family from their nearby burial plots arise, all heading in separate directions to do their masters bidding. I have since stumbled across many empty graveyards in my travels and I am sure that whatever dark power that brought me back to this world has been hard at work adding more of the unwilling dead to their army of drones.
I know not why I do my evil tasks, I feel so much compassion for some of the people that I am forced to attack. In my former life I would have never entertained the idea to do harm to others, now I must see the fear in their eyes, I must listen to the horrifying screams of my victims as I chew mouthfuls of their tasty raw flesh while they are still alive, pleading for mercy. The cracking of their rib cages as I spread them apart to gorge myself on their delicious intestines makes me lone for the peaceful days of rest at my gravesite.
The one constant that I am powerless against is the never-ending need to consume the flesh of the living. It’s a driving force that always keeps me searching this land for new blood. Within minutes of devouring my poor victim the hunger returns, stronger than before and is an agonizing pain to endure. In that brief moment of eating the living, it is a feeling like no other; a rush of delight floods my dead soul and encompasses me in a loving, warm hug of complete satisfaction. The divine feeling is only fleeting and again the terrible hunger returns.
Sometimes I believe I am controlled by more than one evil god that forces me to do battle with others. I will be walking in one direction for many moons and have the sudden urge to turn around and return to where I came to do battle with an enemy or I will travel to a city with a burning image in mind to destroy a certain adversary.
My curse is contagious and what I bite will return to life to be a slave to my unholy master. If a piece of my rotting flesh or blood is consumed, you will die from your internal organs liquefying into a sloppy mess of black goo.
I am forever alone and cannot communicate with anyone. Although I have wanted to form words, my sounds only come out as a wretched moaning. I can no longer control my limbs they will only answer to a higher power and do the orders of my dark master.
My only hope is that I will be laid to rest again someday. Death was far better than being trapped inside of this abomination. I look through my greyed out eyes to the living in the hopes that they will see my sorrow and destroy me once and for all.
I am of the element death, I can be easily defeated for I have no blade or magic, and I only possess brute strength. I can’t even use my cunning to defeat my foes for I am controlled by another. I am at my most deadly when I’m among a horde of corpses for we can strike with the numbers on our side and overwhelm our enemies. I do enjoy when I get to travel with a horde, I look to them and feel an uneasy attraction in knowing that I am not the only one trapped inside of this life of misery.
If you come across an animated corpse please have mercy and free us from our bondage with a hard blow to the skull. We mean you no harm and have no control of our actions, but when the hunger strikes, we all have to eat.
