Wormwood Dawn (Episode VIII) Read Online Free Page A

open. Inside, was a creature that still looked like a human, but was pale and emaciated, and was in a fetal position on its side. It had no hair, had sunken eyes, and it mouth was toothless. It was unmoving, and appeared to be dead. Either way, it was frightening. How could a human look like this? As he studied it closer, he could see that its skin was almost transparent, and he could see the muscles and tendons underneath.
    “This creature was found wandering through the woods,” Maynard said. “It is still mostly human, and could still reason and speak to a certain degree. It told me its name was Dalton before it begged me to kill it.”
    “It’s dead?” Toby asked.
    “Yes,” Maynard replied. “Very much so. I ended it quickly by thrusting an ice pick into the base of its brain. It is now simply for display. But it will decompose soon, I imagine. Though this particular creature was coherent, most of them are not. The creatures you saw me with are the same as this one, only slightly farther along. I keep them at their proto-mutated stage by preventing them from feeding.”
    “Dalton,” Toby said. “If you bury him, you should make a tombstone with his name on it. That would be nice.”
    “Yes, it would,” Maynard said. “Now, go to the cage behind you.”
    Toby turned again and went to the next cage. He stood waiting for Maynard to speak.
    “Now,” Maynard said. “This is one possible stage that the proto-mutants may take. This happens to fairly normal people who have a more aggressive personality than the average human. These may be athletes, hunters, thrill seekers; anyone who loves action and adventure. Pull the curtain.”
    As Toby pulled the curtain, he immediately recognized the creature as a stalker. It was man-like, but appeared to walk on all fours while its front limbs retained their arm-like shape. Though this creature was dead, like the other one, it was still fearsome.
    Its skin was a pale, glossy white, and hard-looking like plastic or wax. Its limbs were sinewy and thin, with long, sharp claws at the ends of its fingers and toes. There were four short scorpion-like tails on its back that were draped out at its side. Its face was very alien, appearing like a wax-dipped skull with a split bottom jaw.
    “Stalker,” he whispered.
    “Is that what you call them?” Maynard asked. Toby nodded. “That’s fitting. They do stalk around and attack things. They attack humans, animals, even the infected ragers. They, like the other mutants are fascinating to me. Unlike the infected fungal creatures that the layperson would call zombies, these are truly new life forms created from existing life. They come from cocoons, like a caterpillar would make, and then emerge as one of these, or something even more strange and frightening. Go to the next cage.”
    As Toby walked over, Maynard began describing the next mutant.
    “In addition to the humans who began to mutate, many animals did as well. This specimen is, or was rather, a coyote. Pull the curtain.”
    Toby pulled the curtain open. Inside was a bizarre dog-like creature. It was shaped like a typical coyote he had seen, but with no fur, hard white skin, and fangs that jutted out like some strange alien from a sci-fi movie. Thankfully, it too was dead.
    “Like humans, the rate and frequency of infections is varied. The most commonly susceptible animals are predators and other high strung animals. Most herd animals are immune, but you will occasionally find one that has succumbed to the gene-altering effects. Go to the next cage.”
    Toby kept his eyes on the bizarre coyote thing as he went to the last cage. It was frightening, and almost looked like it would burst through the glass and gobble him up.
    “This last specimen is something new that I had never seen before. I cannot tell you what kind of human becomes this type; not yet anyway. But I found this one just as it was emerging from its cocoon.”
    Toby pulled the curtain aside, and stepped back