Undead Genesis: Zombie Read Online Free PDF Page B

guessed the two in the groin area were unrecovered,
as well as the one he had recently placed into the man’s ear.
     
    ~ Chapter XI
~
     
    The shaman returned before noon. The old man
was followed by two other large men carrying a hefty box which they
set down inside the hut. It was becoming very crowded in the small
space now.
    “Go find a pallet to carry this body away,”
he commanded the two men and they immediately left to do his
bidding.
    “You have done well cleaning up. How many of
the larvae are still missing?”
    “Three,” Marik answered.
    The shaman pulled out a metal knife. It was
the only one in the village and he was extremely proud of it.
Reaching down between the warrior’s legs with his right hand he
searched by touch.
    “Ah, yes, as I thought.” He reached down with
his knife and with a quick motion opened up a large incision
between the man’s legs. Even though the cuts were deep, there was
no blood. A moment later he produced two of the missing larvae
still squirming around.
    “They do love it down there. Open the small
box for me,” he instructed. He placed these two in with the rest.
“They will change now that they are out.”
    He next went to work on the skull. As he cut
behind the ear he instructed Marik to go into the large chest and
locate another small wooden box. It was on top.
    “Where is it?” The shaman pondered as he
carefully operated. Marik at first thought he was asking about the
box, and held it out to the old man. After being ignored for a few
moments though, he realized the shaman was talking to himself while
searching for the missing larva.
    “So hard to find… it looks just like the
inside of the head. Ah, there you are.”
    He pulled out the last wiggling worm and
placed it into the new box.
    “Close that up. It will live in there for a
long time and won’t change until it is fed again. The box is made
from wood the worms will not eat.”
    “Why are you telling me all of this?” Marik
asked.
    “You are to be my apprentice, of course,” the
shaman answered. “You have nowhere else to go and I will not be
around forever. The role of shaman will be yours. Everything
happens for a reason.”
    Marik laughed, “I am a warrior. I was raised
to be a warrior like my father. It is all I want to be.”
    The shaman inspected the corpse as the two
talked. “We are never in control of what the ancestors require. To
deny their request is to reject their power in your life. It is not
a life anyone wants, but once you start learning my secrets you
will change your mind.”
    The young man again snickered and said, “My
father already told me my future before he was killed.”
    “Yes, it was the future he wanted for you
while he was alive, but your father spoke to me last night as I
slept and made the will of the dead known. It is inevitable.”
    Here he paused and walked over to the chest.
The shaman pulled out a rough blanket and draped it over the body.
When Marik did not respond he continued.
    “You have a decision to make. You need to
make it quickly. If you want to bring this man back to avenge your
father you are going to have to agree to learn my ways. You must
sacrifice some of your own life force to bring someone back, and I
would not live through the process again at my age.”
    Marik thought briefly before answering.
“Then, I will serve under you for my father’s sake. Where do we
begin?”
    The shaman’s wrinkled face creased even more
than usual as he smiled.
    “Help me drag the warrior’s body
outside.”
     
    ~ Chapter
XII ~
     
    Later that evening, Marik watched over the
shaman’s shoulder as the old man crushed up the petals of the ransi
flower the boy had recently brought back from the top of the
forest. The shaman was explaining the process as he worked.
    “We only have two days to bring him back, so
tomorrow it will have to happen. When the man comes back to life he
will no longer be human. He will attack and attempt to devour any
living animal,