Mortuus Ad Victus

Seth suddenly came to a stark realization – what he wanted with his life was different to the rest of his classmates.  Very different.

“Seth Arioch?”

There was a silence of about half a second.

“I want to be a Nazarene Slayer” he said.

Jaws dropped to the floor all around as Seth’s genuine smile and overwhelmingly positive attitude beamed throughout the small English classroom at Anchor High.

There was a silence of about half and hour.  Or what felt like it.

On that fateful day six years ago, Seth realized what he wanted to do in life, yet had no idea on how to manifest this. 

Until today.

 September 38, 2068. Standing in a darkly illuminated corner of the 21^st Century Shoppe in Brisbane’s CBD, Seth saw the watershed between what is known and what is not known – a CD from the year 1990. 

The ugly looking disc was not what interested Seth though.  It was a song title on the back:

 

8.     Iconoclasm Sweeps Cappadocia

 

Seth had wanted to be a Nazarene slayer because it was the pinnacle of all things to be killed.  Defeating a raging lion in battle with nothing but your bare hands is easy.  Destroying a God is not.  Seth always set the bar high for himself. 

Highly technical semiotic analysis is part of the schooling program in the present day and society would not function without symbols as intricate as the first Mona Lisa painting.  Forget crosses and buttons.  Think of a highly developed brain that can calculate with the speed of a computer and the intelligence and wisdom of a human.

Seth was always proud of his abilities and was always at the top of his classes.  Which is why, in Seth’s mind, all religion, saviours and Nazarenes must die.  Only one of the primitive symbols remain – the catholic cross.  Seth had this in his cross-hairs.

“It’s only 2 lines” was all Seth could whisper as he remained staring at the cover of the CD for minutes on end. 

Seth never thought the church was bad.  He just realized that for himself to continue living a full life, all religious symbols must be destroyed.  This is not for anyone of the populace, the dream people who float in and out of reality every four years or so.  This is for him.  Smash two lines.  Target, destroy and erase.

Brisbane as a society learnt with the world.  Thousands of buildings made in the ancient sandstone have been pulled down over the years and replaced with massive gothic structures, with high door and arch ways and a multitude of flying buttresses.   The intricacy and detail of the 16^th century is the norm across the world, with materials and skills needed to design the structures impeccable. 

And yet the cross remains.  Seth walked out of the store knowing what he needed to do.  Brisbane needs Arioch to sweep its streets with iconoclasm. 

Taking one step out of the door, Seth was met with a myriad of options.  Shall I talk to someone, shall I walk in a crowd, shall I spend some money in a shop…

Out of nowhere Seth stopped and looked to the sky.  The brilliant azure shone in and around the earth on a perfect day.  Looking at the dirt, stone and glass that lined the city before his gazing eyes, he spoke to the wind.

“We were wrong then.  This city has been destroyed and rebuilt.  We are wrong now”

Turning to his left, Seth caught a glimpse of a beautiful woman walking along with a small child.  Her smile was broad and genuine and her brown hair flowed in a prescribed wave again and again over her neck and shoulder.  The child started staring at Seth, his young innocent face a ball of curiosity as his brown eyes pierced straight into the heart of Seth Arioch.

 He couldn’t help but laugh.

Seth decided to go home before things got too serious.  Turning to cross the street, he thought how lovely the day was.  The mammoth building in front of him gleamed in the sun.  It was as if some holy light was shining upon his sweaty forehead.

Little did Seth know, a holy light was shining upon him.  Very holy indeed.

Seth was not aware of this. And probably will not be aware of this until he dies.

As it turned out, God had been following Seth since he proclaimed “ I want to be a Nazarene Slayer”.  Upon hearing this, God was perplexed and also extremely curious.  He sat in his ultra-dimensional throne and pondered.  After approximately half and hour, he called to the nearest Seraph standing guard at the interest to his chambers.

“ Morgan” he said inquisitively.

“Yes Lord, holy trinity, father of the…”

God cut him off with a question

“Am I good?”

“Yes, father, absolute, the good of all good…”

“the evil of all evil?” asked God.           

“No, Father!  Do not even utter the word, we are in heaven!" 

“Oh, yes…”  God was bored now and got straight to the point.

“Do you want to kill me?”

Morgan was stunned.  A look of fear swept across his face.  He thought God knew something that he might do in the future that he had no idea about now.

“God!” proclaimed Morgan, “No!”

“For anything I do to you, I am sorry, Father.  I serve you and no other.  You can see into the future, I cannot.  Please forgive me, and spare my wings”

It is customary in heaven to tear all six wings of a seraph and throw them to hell to be burnt.

But God cannot see into the future, he only uses the past to create realistic situations that may or may not occur.

“It is alright, Morgan my son.  I was after a response from you, and the answer you gave was full of trust and love.  I hold no grudge.  Please continue your watch, you have my love”

“Thank-you father, God bless”

“God bless”

Morgan scuttled back to his position, not knowing what just occurred.  His mind was so focused on protecting God, he duly forgot the conversation in 5.3897 seconds.  God did not. 

God only tries to help people.  He truly does.

God sat there, on his throne of cloud, gold and dust, wondering why someone would want to spend their life tracking him down and killing him, just as they did his son, Jesus.  But that is another story.

So he decided to keep an eye on Seth throughout the years.  Why? 

God is afraid to die.  Yet on the other hand, he is quite inquisitive.

So after all these years of watching over Seth, God grew quite fond of him.  And that is why he decided to protect him against the Zombies.

Yes, zombies.  The living dead had sprung up on earth to unleash hell.  And Seth was about to have his first encounter.

The small child with the beautiful woman was still in front of Seth.  Everything was normal, until Seth realized the small child was eating the beautiful woman’s foot. 

Her left foot, to be exact.

She was hobbling around on her right foot, with the detached other foot in her child’s mouth.  Behind her lay a continuous line of smeared blood over the asphalt.  Then a peculiar thing happened.  The beautiful lady picked up the small child like you would a melting ice-cream.  Except instead of licking it, she bit off the entire head.  Blood was spewing forth from her mouth and the childs neck.  Seth stood in amazement at how she managed to bite off the childs head in one go.

She looked over at Seth.  He thought his time was up, but she gave him a disgusted look and threw the childs decapitated carcass at him.  He covered his face with his hands and grimaced.  The carcass smashed into his side, knocking him over.  The blood from the severed body flicked around in an arc similar to if you put a dripping wet paintbrush in an Olympic discus thrower’s hand just before starting the spin.

The woman then ran over to Seth when he was on the ground.  He was dazed, confused and scared.  To his dismay, she kicked him up the ass, sending his face head first into the bloody headless body in front of him.  Rolling around, Seth jumped to his feet.  She wasn’t there.

She was eating a nearby man’s bowels.  He had ceased living and lay on the ground, arms outstretched, and shirt up high enough for the woman to catch a glimpse of untouched soft flesh.  She went straight for the bowels, ripping apart the flesh and sticking a long-nailed hand pulled out a long strand of entrails.  Without hesitation, she shoved the guts into her mouth and swallowed without chewing. 

As you do.

That was enough for Seth.

“Fuck this, im outta here” he said to himself, and legged it around the corner – to see a man eating his penis.

Seth threw up.  The splash of vomit on the concrete was enough for the zombie to turn his head and look straight at Seth.  Strangely enough, he decided the delicacy in front of him was too good and continued munching away.  Blood was running down the path and into the gutter.  The unrecognizable face of the zombie was covered in blood.  Nothing but a constant pump of blood arose from his groin, much like a common garden fountain.

It was at this time that Seth realized this was his fault.  He had failed to slay the Nazarene.  And because of this, people are suffering.  If there was no God, there would be no suffering.  Only God himself could conjure such a blasphemic plague, to punish the “evil” humans.

Seth didn’t really care right now.  He wanted God dead.

God’s interest suddenly arose.  Although he had nothing to do with the zombies, he thanked whoever was involved.  The case of slaying the Nazarene was once again open. 

Seth did not even know where to start.  Dismembered bodies were traipsing through city, eating random bits of flesh.  In despair, Seth called out:

“Show yourself God!  We need to talk”

nothing happened.  Seth began to open up.  The words coming out of his mouth were like fire from a volcano, spitting and scathing.

“ I thought not, you gutless worm.  Darkness and death I desire, not you.  Leave me on Earth with the zombies!!! That is better than breathing the same air as you, you fucking lame magician!!!”

God sat high in his throne of cloud, gold and dust.  He heard everything Seth had said.  Unfortunately, there was not a lot he could do.  He did not know how to show himself on earth.  He wished nothing more than to take a human form, show himself to Seth, and ask him as many questions as a mortal man would wish to ask a God.

He did not know how to talk to people on earth.

He did not know how to change things on Earth.

All he can do is view the Earth and its happenings and predict what is going to happen.  For some reason everyone wants him dead.

Except for Seth.

He just wants to kill him.

*Stay tuned for part II - heaps more zombie blood death!  hail!