City of the Dead Read Online Free PDF Page B

embedded in his knuckle.
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    "OB! DO YOU KNOW THAT NAME? OB! OB! OB!"
    "N-no," she sobbed, "I don't know it! Please don't hit me again!"
    Ob's shoulders slumped. He turned to the others.
    "She does not know of me. Does not know of us. None of them have so far. We are forgotten among them. We are rumors, legends. Nothing more than fairy tales. We are what they used to make their children stay in bed at night. To entertain themselves with in television and film and literature."
    He turned back to her.
    "We are the Siqqusim, which means 'abominations that speak from the head' in the Hebrew language. You thought us mere spirits of the dead, but we are much more than that. The Sumerians and the Assyrians knew our true origin. Demons, your kind called us. Djinn. Monsters. We are the source of your legends-the reason you still fear the dark in this age of light. We existed long before Michael and Lucifer chose sides with their 'angels.' They were nothing more than inferior versions of us. We were banished long ago, banished to the Void by Him, the cruel one; the one your kind worships still. He lost favor with us, for he loved you better, his final creations."
    One of Baker's organs fell out of the empty stomach cavity, dangling by a thread of gristle. Absentmindedly, Ob tore it away, gave it to another zombie to eat and then continued.
    "Have you any idea how long we languished there? You cannot fathom it. The Void is cold, so very cold. It is not Heaven, and it is not Hell. It exists between them and does not exist at all. We dwelled there, trapped for eons with our brothers, the Elilum and Teraphim. He
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    sent us there! Banished us to the icy wastes. We watched while you scurried like ants, multiplying and breeding, basking in His frigid love. We waited, for we are patient. We lurked on the threshold, ever observant, waiting for the time of the Oberim, what you call 'the Rising.' The Oberim is the crossing of the border between this world and the Void, and your scientists finally provided us with the ability to do so. Their experiment opened the door, broke down the dimensional barriers. Finally, we are free to walk this earth again, as we did long ago, before your kind. It is the ultimate offense to Him-as your kind dies, we replace you here. We reside in your brain. We are the worm that burrows through his creations, these bags of blood and tissue, this ball of water and dirt! And He can do nothing about it, for it was wrought with your own hands. Your bodies belong to us! We control your flesh. We have been waiting a long time to inhabit you. Many of us are here, and many more await passage. For our number is greater than the stars! We are more than infinity! And He can only watch! Watch and weep!"
    Snot ran down her face. "S-so, you're doing all of this just-just to g-get back at God?"
    Ob sneered with Baker's lips.
    "Indeed. That-and our own self-interest. We longed to be free of the Void, of course."
    He paused in his thoughts while Lisa squirmed on the pole. The dead body of her companion started to move again. It looked at her and grinned. Its fellow creatures began to loosen its bonds.
    "Welcome, brother," Ob said.
    "Thank you, lord. It is good to be free."
    Ob turned back to her.
    "So tell me, Lisa. If you'll pardon my melodrama, do
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    you know who we are now? Have you gained an understanding? Did your elders teach you of these things in Sunday school?"
    Her only response was a whimper. Ob flung his hands up in exasperation.
    "I am attested to seventeen times in the Old Testament! Seventeen! I am Ob of the Obot! I lead the Siqqusim, just as Ab leads the Elilum and Api the Teraphim. Yidde-oni! I am Ob! He who speaks from the head! Engastrimathos du aba paren tares!"
    Cursing, he shoved the zombie with the knife out of the way. Lisa relaxed slightly against her bonds. Ob grabbed a pistol from one of the other zombies and shoved it between her breasts.
    Lisa cringed.
    "If you do not know of us, do not know of the Void,