Freefall – Part 2

2016-03-20

Good evening, and welcome to another short story follow-up, Freefall – Part 2. This is a story that I’m telling over many, many, many double drabbles, although if I only do one a week that might take quite a while to finish…

After last week’s episode, this one takes a look at a different perspective and gets an early start on expanding the world of the story. We’ll be coming back to this bunch a few times going forward. So without further ado, here is Part 2 of Freefall!

“The escape pod is falling planet-side, your eminence” said the navigations officer.
“Track it” said the commander, an imposing seven foot tall military veteran named Kohra. He had travelled many hundreds of thousands of miles on the trail of his quarry. He would not be stopped now.

His honour had been besmirched when the rebel had escaped custody. Now the only course of action was to recapture him, and to do so promptly. Any further delay would reflect badly on him, tarnish his status further.

“Take us down after him. I want that man back under armed guard within the hour.”

“But sir, there is a fleet of enemy ships standing between us and the surface.”
Kohl shrugged. “So? Are we not on board the most powerful vessel in the fleet? They are nought but specks compared to our mighty vessel. Clear a path, lieutenant.”
“Aye, sir.”
With the push of a single button the vessel’s weapons systems were activated. System after system came online in quick succession. Weapons of all shapes and varieties came to life, their automated systems immediately targeting all non-friendly vessels within firing range.

The fleet in orbit below them didn’t stand a chance.

Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015) review

Simon Prior

Now then, how to write a review of possibly the biggest film ever without spoiling anything for anybody who has not yet seen it? Easy enough, I’ll not mention the plot but instead I’ll focus on acting, thematic areas of interest, and the fact that this is a return to form after the generally mundane prequel trilogy. That should do the trick, hopefully.

Yes, that’s right. Real, physical locations are back and it seems they are here to stay. There are a lot of CGI shots, of course, but they have the same feel as the models that were used back in the 1970s and 80s, or even the tinkering that Lucas has undertaken on the original trilogy since their first release (hush now, purists). This is most definitely a good thing. Gone are the conversations about trade disagreements and back are the frenetic action sequences and enjoyable character beats that made Star Wars an instant classic. Put simply, The Force Awakens puts to bed any negativity following the prequels and also puts right what they once got wrong. In that respect JJ Abrams is like a modern day Sam Beckett, Quantum Leaping across time and space to correct George Lucas’ previous errors.

Some may disapprove of the narrative similarities between this and the 1977 origin of the franchise, but for me this was a minor point. I can see that, while crafting a new chapter in the series, Disney and Lucasfilm seem to be echoing some of the key thematic points of the original trilogy. Redemption, the Light and the Dark, finding your destiny, that sort of thing. With that said, the story structure is clearly geared up as the first part of a trilogy, so if you’re going in expecting to receive answers to every question then you will be disappointed.

Proof that you don't have to be a privileged white man to lead a successful franchise. — Proof that you don’t have to be a privileged white man to lead a successful franchise.

All this grand operatic space opera nonsense is supported by some great performances from both newcomers and old favourites alike. John Boyega carries much of the story as Finn, alongside Daisy Ridley as Rey. Here again we have yet another example of a strong female character and a sign that, at last, things may be changing. For me it says a lot that our three main leads – Boyega, Ridley and the ever impressive Oscar Isaac – are not white men. A much needed shift in dynamics.

The old favourites are on equal form. Harrison Ford in particular slips back into the character of Han Solo with ease, seemingly revelling in the role. Likewise for Carrie Fisher, although one hopes she will have a little more involvement in Episode VIII. As for Mark Hamill, well the less said there the better. Spoilers, after all.

On that note, minor spoiler ahead. However you look at The Force Awakens, my visit to the cinema was made all the better for seeing Admiral Ackbar again. It’s a cunning ruse! There may be a hint of deus ex machina to proceedings, but otherwise this isn’t just the Star Wars film we needed, it is (kind of) the Star Wars film we deserved.

Short Story: I, Zombie – Part 3

Simon Prior

2016-03-18

Evening folks, welcome to part 3 of I, Zombie. I’m having fun developing this, and I’m quite keen to see where the narrative goes to. Hopefully, you are too. Any comments will be gratefully received, positive or negative.

The gun clicked. The chamber was empty.
“Damn it” said the soldier, fumbling with the clip on the rifle. The clip dropped out of the gun and fell into the jeep footwell. Her driver, a bulky man wearing matching fatigues, laughed at her incompetence.
“Jenkins, you’re lucky there’s only one of ‘em” he said, his voice a deep drawl.
“Shut up, I’ve got this” she replied, reaching down to her belt and retrieving another clip. This one slotted into place immediately.
“Sure you do” said the driver, still chuckling.

He watched as this scene unfolded, uncertain what to do next. He couldn’t run – his legs wouldn’t move that fast any more.
The mental fog had cleared enough to know what would happen next. The soldier would chamber a bullet, take aim and shoot him dead. Or, more realistically, actually dead. He tried to beg for his life, but realised that he no longer had control over his vocal chords. Jenkins aimed her rifle at him again. He lifted his arms to cover his face. This action made her stop.

The driver looked at her, disgruntled. “Just put a bullet in its head and let’s get moving, daylight’s wasting.”
Jenkins lowered her weapon. “No, I have a better idea.”
She dropped out of the vehicle and started walking towards him before the driver had time to stop her. He clambered out of the vehicle and followed her.
“You’re crazy” said the driver, catching up with her.
“Maybe” came her reply, as both she and the driver came to a stop in front of the zombie. She looked him over.

“I think we’ll call you Pops” said the girl. He looked back at her curiously. She couldn’t be much older than twenty. He tried smiling. The result was anything but. He bared his teeth, causing a few remnants of the body he had just chewed on to fall from his mouth. Instantly Jenkins had lifted the rifle again and had it aimed at him. He raised his arms again and lowered his head in deference. It was the only way he could show that he meant them no harm.

Until the hunger returned. He hoped that would be some time from now.

The driver of the vehicle laughed again. “You want to keep him as a pet?” Come on now, we’ve got places to go.”
Jenkins turned on the driver. “But look at him, he’s different. He’s not trying to attack us. He’s just… well, standing there. That’s odd.”
The driver shook his head. “Don’t mean nothing. He’s one of them, a flesh eater. Keep your distance.”
“Howard, are you seriously telling me that you don’t find this at least slightly interesting?”
The driver, Howard, inclined his head slightly. “Just a bit. Maybe” he admitted.

“He looks fresh, like he’s not long turned” said Jenkins, looking him over.
“Probably less than a day” agreed Howard.
“There’s something different about this one, I’m sure of it. In fact it might be exactly what we were looking for.”
“You think?” Howard was sceptical.
“Only one way to find out.” Jenkins looked back at the zombie.

“Come on Pops, you’re coming with us.”

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) review

Simon Prior

One aspect of the Star Wars mythos that I was always interested in, speaking as somebody who falls more on the Star Trek side of the fence in the grand scheme of galactic conquest (sorry Wars fans, but Trek was introduced to me first), was the notion of the Clone Wars, a long period of conflict that takes place almost entirely offscreen in the prequel trilogy. That was an odd choice at first, especially when you consider how much those films could have done with a shot of adrenaline to perk things up.

But then they announced that the Clone Wars would be explored in detail in an animated series, and there was much rejoicing. There was even more rejoicing when it was unveiled that Genndy Tartakovsky’s animation studio was going to provide the series. While this isn’t a comment on the subsequent series that this film launched (because the series is rather splendid indeed), the Clone Wars film manages to get it all horribly wrong.

Most disappointing is that, despite the vast canvas available to the makers of this film, that canvas has resulted in a narrative that is every bit as dull as the very worst parts of the prequel trilogy, and almost equally as lifeless for vast stretches. How was this even possible? I’m going to do what I always do when something inexplicable happens for no good reason – blame the T-Virus from Resident Evil and then promptly move along to another subject.

If the animation was anything to write home about then that might resolve a few problems, but alas it’s a surprisingly lifeless feature in that respect too. Somewhat ironic given that Genndy Tartakovsky, the brain behind animated gems such as Samurai Jack (a classic of animation with minimal storytelling, in my opinion), has provided us with something that barely manages to claw its way out of the garage, let alone have the opportunity to fire on all cylinders.

It’s not all bad though. This animated feature was designed to lead into a full animated series which, thankfully, is a much more pleasant viewing experience. And having seen both, it’s not actually necessary to watch this film before you jump into the serial run. The only moderately important plot point you’d miss is Anakin being assigned a padawan (a Jedi trainee, but you knew that anyway didn’t you?) of his own, which is explained briefly in the series in any case.

The other positive is the introduction to the clone soldiers. Despite all having the same voice and the same face, they are still clearly defined individuals with their own lives. It also helps that they’re given a wide array of varied hairstyles just to help the audience differentiate them further. It’s a clever route into what would otherwise be a massive headache for the writers, the animators and the audience.

It’s easy to criticise this film, essentially a three part story of the series adapted to feature length, for not living up to expectations. But then there are many series that have shaky starts that grow into some truly exceptional pieces of entertainment. This is one such television show and we should be grateful that it was given the opportunity to progress despite the less than thrilling start it was provided.

Django Unchained (2013) review

Simon Prior

He was aghast to find a gun in his hand, and no idea how it got there.

Quentin Tarantino’s take on the Western genre arrived pretty soon after his last film took us back to the Second World War. Inspired and drawn from the original Django movie in 1966 (and the unofficial series of films that followed), Jamie Foxx plays the titular character, a man who manages to break away from a life in slavery to seek revenge on the people responsible for selling both he and his wife into servitude.

He is assisted in his quest by Dr King Schultz, wonderfully played by Christoph Waltz who returns after stealing the show as Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds. And, once more, he is almost a reason for watching Django Unchained on his own, such is his ability combined with Tarantino’s words. He presents multiple layers do his character, happy to kill men for a bounty, yet grimaces at the inhumanity of slavery and the fighting they are forced to partake in by their white owners. An understandable position of course. On is the hunting down of bad men whereas the other is barbarism for the sake of barbarism.

There are further strong performances from Leonardo DiCaprio as the villain of the piece, plantation owner Calvin Candie. He is in equal parts comically naive and intense, increasingly so as it becomes apparent to him just what Django and Schultz have in mind. In essence he is nought but a young boy in the body of a man, which as we all know is often a bad combination for other people.

Christoph Waltz, as Dr King Schultz, has fun with Tarantino’s dialogue. It’s hard to describe why it works without likening it to a sing song quality. The words flow with flair and ease. The combination between Tarantino and Waltz is one that I would very much like to see repeated post-Django, it’s a combination that just works.

Kerry Washington gets short shrift as Broomhilda, Django’s wife who remains in slavery at Candie’s plantation. Her role is limited primarily to screaming. It’s a shame her talents are so summarily wasted.

It wouldn’t be a Tarantino film without Samuel L Jackson, and here he plays Stephen, the head butler of Candie’s household. Stephen is a wily one, knowing more than he shows and a master manipulator of everyone around him. It flies in the face of the slave culture that surrounds him, and gives him opportunity to carve a position of power for himself – at the expense of the slaves around him. That should tell you all you need to know about him.

James Remar even gets a couple of decent supporting roles in a classic callback to the old days of cinema. You know, where you wouldn’t blink at seeing the same face in multiple roles. Plus the original Django, Franco Nero, gets a brief but very welcome cameo in a scene that contrasts the room’s opulence with the barbaric mandingo fight between two black slaves taking place there.

There are a vast swathe of supporting roles that are also worthy of mention. Jonah Hill, for one. He shows up in a comedic KKK scene that could have quite easily been cut from the film without affecting the narrative. But it’s one that offers a few laughs at the KKK’s expense and acts as a counterpoint to the violence that erupts elsewhere in the story.

Finally there is Jamie Foxx as Django. He is excellent, of course, gradually developing into the bounty hunter role under Schultz’s tutelage. It just so happens that he’s also a very good shot – no need to train him up on hitting glass bottles on a fence, he can do it naturally. That does save a lot of time. Good, too, because otherwise this would have potentially pushed the film over the three hour mark.

There are a few issues – a sequence involving Django’s capture and encounter with a bunch of badly accented Australian bounty hunters, among them Tarantino himself, is almost a sequence too far. On the whole though Django Unchained is a successful film in its own right while playing homage to the Western classics of the past while carving out its own niche in the genre.

Spectre (2015) review

Simon Prior

"Can I tell you a secret? I don't know how to play chess." — “Can I tell you a secret? I don’t know how to play chess.”

It’s been a long time coming, but finally those shady, conniving so and so’s of SPECTRE have returned to the James Bond franchise for the first time since Roger Moore dropped Blofeld (he’s not named as such due to the legal wrangling between Ian Fleming and screenwriter Kevin McClory, but we know it was him don’t we?) down an industrial chimney in For Your Eyes Only. For the sake of canon I’ll ignore Never Say Never Again, mostly because that story was already done better in Thunderball.

But I digress. SPECTRE are back and causing their own fair share of problems for MI6 and James Bond in particular. And that’s not all, as the investigation back in Blighty into the necessity for having Double O agents is once again under the scrutiny of Andrew Scott’s Max, aka ‘C’, who is leading an initiative for total surveillance. In other words, George Orwell’s worst nightmares realised.

Perhaps the best thing about this retconning of the Daniel Craig era is that Quantum of Solace is made a better film by tying those events together with these subsequent Sam Mendes-led efforts that began with Skyfall in 2012. It’s perhaps not the best example of retconning, especially as it was initially intended for Quantum to be the Spectre-like organisation, but it does at least give all of Craig’s Bond films an internal logic separate from the rest of the series.

Key players return in supporting roles, namely Ralph Fiennes as Mallory/M, Ben Whishaw as ‘Q’, Naomi Harris as Moneypenny and Rory Kinnear as Bill Tanner. Their involvement makes this more an ensemble piece more than anything else, even if Kinnear is lumbered with being the exposition man.

A Bond film tends to live or die depending on its villains. Spectre doesn’t go overboard with its villainous faces, focusing on two key players in the shady organisation – Christoph Waltz’s Franz Oberhauser and Dave Bautista’s monosyllabic Hinx. Waltz is great at exuding a friendly demeanour yet looking like he could rip off your face at any moment. Or get one of his henchmen to do it. His outfit is something else entirely – no socks, and a very odd jacket do him no favours. Hinx meanwhile has a few good moments, but is little more than a throwback to the silent and bulky henchmen of years gone by.

“If you can’t tell that I’m Christoph Waltz from my profile, then you do not deserve my attention.”

Then there are the women that Bond inevitably encounters. In this instance they are Monica Bellucci (in a brief role) and Lea Seydoux as the estranged daughter of Mr White. Bellucci is almost a blink and you’ll miss her presence, but Seydoux has a bit more to do. She’s not entirely helpless, although her involvement is mostly limited to being saved by Bond. As loathe as I am to refer back to it, we’re certainly not in the same territory as Halle Berry’s Jinx in Die Another Day, which is disappointing in this day and age.

Mendes has listened to the fans who complained about the lack of action set pieces in Skyfall by upping the quota considerably for Spectre. There’s much more in terms of the globetrotting that the series has been famous for in the past and which was somewhat lacking in the more introspective Skyfall. The script manages to pile up location visits to Mexico, Austria and of course London as Bond goes on Spectre’s trail. The locations are all stunning to look at, and even London has a surprisingly pleasant sheen to it.

It’s not all roses, though. It feels like there are narrative gaps that result in some aspects of the story not being fully developed, and in some cases events happen as if they have just been dropped into the plot in the hope that nobody will notice they don’t link all that well with the previous and following scenes. In that respect it jumps around a little too much for my liking.

Could this be Daniel Craig’s last spin in the Aston Martin? Only time will tell. If it is and a new Bond greets us in the 25th feature, Craig’s time in the tuxedo has been well spent, and despite a slight misstep with Quantum of Solace will no doubt be reflected on with fondness in years to come. Thankfully Spectre proves to be a worthy entry in his custodianship.

A Clockwork Orange (1971) review

Simon Prior

"Don't make me watch any more of The Voice!" — “Don’t make me watch any more of The Voice!”

To ever criticise Stanley Kubrick is to earn the anger and disbelief of perhaps most of the critical world. Thankfully, for my sake, I am not one of those people. I am very much a fan of Kubrick’s work, even if he never made any effort to stop his films from looking exactly like the time period they were made in, rather than the era they are supposed to be set. A Clockwork Orange does look incredibly dated now, despite its near future setting. The decor is garish 70s, as are the clothes worn by all of the characters present.

Ignoring its blatant 70s styling, A Clockwork Orange is a frankly excellent film, containing an engaging story, deliciously offbeat characters and a darkly satirical edge. Britain has gone to the dogs and the streets are awash with gangs that dress in a rather amusing, if somewhat threatening manner.

It’s a film filled with iconic imagery and scenes, from a group of droogs, led by Malcolm McDowell’s Alex, breaking into a couple’s home and partaking in a bit of ultra-violence and a bit of the old “in and out” as they call it, all the way up to Alex’s eyes being prised open And forced to watch a never ending stream of horrific things as part of his penal correction. From there Alex is released and, unable to commit any violent acts without feeling sick, is forced to confront the world he helped create. This is hammered home time and again, be it from his family or even his old droog pals.

Fashion, it ain't what it used to be. — Fashion, it ain’t what it used to be.

This is McDowell’s film, a performance that he’d be hard pressed to beat in any of his other roles. To say as much is perhaps being unkind to his more recent work, but the fact remains that Alex is one of cinema’s most iconic characters and it was always going to be tough to achieve similar notoriety in any other role. Okay, so he was the guy who managed, inadvertently, to kill Captain James Kirk in Generations, but the point remains.

At the time of release it was criticised for its violent and sexual content, and following Kubrick’s withdrawal of the film from general release it wasn’t then available until a year after Kubrick’s death. In hindsight it’s understandable why Kubrick chose to withdraw the film, although I expect the violent threats made against him and his family were a large influence on his decision.

And what exactly do we learn in the end? That any attempt at correction is seemingly doomed to fail, that if you’re twisted in the head you will most likely never reform and fall back into your usual old habits. Whether this is a deliberate move on Kubrick’s part or not, this does appear to be the overall message. From a slightly wider perspective, it appears to be asking the audience to question their role in society, the role of those who have been tasked with acting as our guardians and protectors, and to question their motives, especially when their attempts at behavioural correction are as medieval as this.

Omega Doom (1996) review

Simon Prior

While it may be based on the classic that is Yojimbo, there is almost nothing you could say is enjoyable about this 1996 low budget sci-fi flick. Omega Doom might be a rather cool title, but that will only carry you so far. It lacks enjoyable characters, poor dialogue, equally poor special effects, and only a couple of locations.

In some cases a minimalist use of locations can be a good thing. Much of this depends on the script, which in this case is patently iffy from page one. By all means explain that there is a wider world out there, but in order to make the story work you really do need to make the characters interesting. If you don’t then the audience will be wishing they could head off into the blood red sunset and explore that wider world. Better that than have to spend any longer with this bunch of androids.

That’s not a disparaging remark, by the way. The characters are all androids, with humanity on the brink of extinction. Hauer arrives in the small town, an outsider, as a civil war is taking place between two opposing sides in a robot war. Of course, I say civil war. Ignoring the destruction that surrounds them, there isn’t much going on in the way of fighting. All things considered, the town is relatively peaceful.

I’ll admit that there are a couple of good shots, and Rutger Hauer is always value for money – no doubt why he ends up in so many of these direct to video/DVD budget films. Hauer provides a gentle menace as the fast drawing title character, a robot who has had his evil circuits destroyed. Elsewhere too the cast are acceptable and inhabit their characters. Comic relief is provided by Norbert Weisser as The Head, although the term “comic relief” is perhaps giving the character too much credit.

Androids. They all look the same. Or something equally mundane.

Otherwise, not much happens. The story drags as you sit there and hope for something interesting to take place, or a fight. Anything. Instead There is lots of standing around, jibber-jabbering, and staring at rival groups. Of course, I say rival groups – there are only about 10 characters in total. It’s almost insufferable in its languid approach to narrative. Take a bow, Albert Pyun.

There’s also one moment where a robot gets a hole blasted in them. In one shot we can see right through their torso from the other side. The next? A green patch on their front, which was clearly supposed to be chroma keyed out in post and was forgotten about. Go figure.

When I watched this it was admittedly after midnight. Somehow I managed to sit through the whole thing without falling asleep. I would describe it as an endurance test. If you can get through this in one sitting without dozing off or being distracted – at any time of the day – then you can watch almost anything. Not that I’m suggesting you should watch this – don’t. Watch Yojimbo instead.

Scout’s Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse (2015) review

Simon Prior

Any excuse to touch someone. Male or female.

If I were asked to briefly sum up Scouts Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse, and that is kind of the point of this movie reviewing process, it would be to say it’s a zombie outbreak seen from the perspective of a hormonal male teenager. The women are all ridiculously attractive and contribute little to the narrative. Yes, even Sarah Dumont’s Denise. Despite the fact she is set up as a gun-toting cocktail waitress she is there, really, to act as eye candy. Give her a Ripley shell all you like, but there is absolutely zero emotional connection to her character and that is disappointing.

So, the lead characters are somewhat rote and played out. Our three scouts, Ben (Tye Sheridan), Carter (Logan Miller) and Augie (Joey Morgan) fill the usual stereotypes of the nerdy overweight kid, the sex-crazed teen and… well, the slightly boring one. Sorry, Tye Sheridan, but the straight man role doesn’t give you much to work with. Unless you’re Simon Pegg, of course. They’re all out of town camping when a zombie apocalypse hits the town, and it’s up to them, alongside strip club employee Denise (Dumont), to save their classmates and get out of town before the place is blown up by the military.

The joke is that scouts are ideally placed to survive an apocalypse on the basis of the skills they learn as part of their scout training. This is demonstrated in almost every dangerous situation they face, be it locked in a cell in the police station, escaping the attention of David Koechner’s Scout Leader Rogers, or fighting off swarms of the undead with homemade custom weaponry built from the contents of a DIY store.

I’m not averse to some toilet humour though. There are a couple of solid gold gross-out jokes that are almost painfully funny. The sad thing is that this level of mirth isn’t carried through the remainder of the film. There are amusing moments, sure, but genuine laughs are intermittent, even more so as the story progresses and the stakes get higher. Things get off to a strong start too, as an infected patient attacks those present and releases the virus into the open world. This internal sequence is tense yet filled with genuinely funny gags.

The characterisation might be as trope-like as a trope that has decided it wants to be the biggest trope ever seen to celebrate Saint Trope’s Day (NB: not a real public holiday), but they are sufficiently developed enough for us to understand their motivations, their fears and the nature of their friendships.

I started off by spotting a number of obvious continuity errors – because my brain can’t say no to spotting them when they’re as blatant as they are here. Then, gradually, I was able to settle into the story and after the opening act I didn’t pick up on anything that stood out too much.

On a more positive note, the zombies are different from the normal brain munching undead in that they each have a distinct personality, which isn’t all that clever if you look at it hard enough – it’s just them as they were before turning/dying. This does at least offer some amusing moments, even if some like the Britney Spears gag run on longer than is absolutely necessary for a one line payoff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5e7Mr7eVTk

Short Story: I, Zombie – Part 2

Simon Prior

2016-03-11

Obligatory sequel time! If you recall, a few weeks back I released a short story called I, Zombie. My intention was always to continue with this story in one form or another, and that leads us to this point, the obligatory sequel.

Before anyone complains about the ending, there will be parts 3 and 4 over the coming weeks, and likely a few more beyond that, probably until I have a novel’s worth of content. I’ve got a few half decent ideas for which direction to take this in. Heck, I might even do a podcast version of the story for good measure.

If you read this and enjoy it, please share it across your social media platform of choice, and leave a comment letting me know what you think.

The sun hurt his eyes. Had it always been that bright? Instinctively he lifted his arm across his face, blocking the sunlight and giving himself a moment’s respite. He focused on his surroundings, trying to locate the source of the scream that had drawn him outside. He saw nobody. Looking left and right up and down the street, there was no movement at all.

How long had it taken him to get outside? Too long, apparently. Whoever had screamed before was long gone. He sniffed the air. Or were they?

He felt the hunger pangs building inside him. He would need to eat, and soon. The hunger was almost unbearable. He scoured the vicinity for fresh meat. There must be something for him to eat out here. While many of his senses had been dulled by the change, his sense of smell had improved considerably but in one respect only. The smell of flesh.

He let his sense of smell lead him forwards, each shuffling step bringing him closer to the source. He moved slowly around some burning rubble and then what he sought was in front of him.

Ahead lay the remains of… somebody. So much had been ripped away by hungry mouths that had left almost nothing. The remains were little more than a pile of bones and gristle. Had this been the one who had screamed? It didn’t matter now. What did matter was the hunger, and that this unfortunate soul would be his first meal.

He staggered towards the bundle of gore. The meat had not begun to turn, not like the bodies back in that room. Besides, right now the hunger had almost taken over everything. If he’d stayed in that room he would have probably ended up eating one or both of the bodies in there.

He practically stumbled over the body, such was the fog that had begun to obscure his already limited vision. The pain was almost unbearable. He tucked into what was left of the flesh until the bones had been completely picked clean. One of the bones had been cracked open, possibly when the person had fallen. The marrow within was there for the taking. He ate it gratefully, picking out what he could and stuffing the contents into his mouth.

Satisfied, for now, he climbed unsteadily back to his feet. He felt the hunger cloud recede, giving him greater control over his mind once more. The world around him became clearer, more focused. Something bad had happened here, but not recently. There was much destruction and damage to almost everything around him, as if a tornado had ripped through the town and upended anything and everything.

His thoughts were disturbed by yet another sound. A vehicle of some kind was approaching from the east. He watched it as it weaved through the crashed cars, slowly getting closer to his position. He felt no fear of this newcomer. Instead, curiosity over came him. He started walking towards the vehicle, keen to get a closer look.

In what was left of his pre-turn mind, he recognised it as a military jeep. As the jeep came to a stop thirty feet away a figure stood up from the passenger seat. He knew, somewhere within the fragments of memory left to him, that the camouflage outfit meant that this other person was a soldier.

He took a faltering step towards them, but stopped when the figure lifted their arms to chest height. They had an object in their hand. Images whirled through his mind until he recognised what it was. A gun.

The figure took aim directly at him and pulled the trigger.

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