Monthly Archive for June, 2009

Blue Zone Zyracuse 10: In Pace Resquiscat

“In Pace Resquiscat “by Rob Kay

 

Read by Dave Sipley
Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Right-click to download.

Get This Man a Laptop

He walked with a limp in his right leg. That was the first thing they noticed. The second was the calm clarity and certainty with which he spoke. Later, but not until much later and separately, they would figure out that he timed his meeting so that he would be alone with them in the long hallway between the Terminal and the B-Concourse. Even with his limp and the fast clip at which Slater walked, he’d have them exclusively for thirty seconds.

“Captain Slater, Miss Brooks. You have a problem.”

“Thanks for bringing that to our attention, buddy. Take a number. We’ll get right on it.”

“Well, actually, you have several. To be specific, those problems are 400,00 plus or minus 15,000, seven days, forty, too damn many, January 9th, plus or minus two days, and democracy.”

Continue reading ‘Get This Man a Laptop’

Blue Zone Zyracuse 09: Set for Life

“Set for Life” by Dave Sipley

 

Read by Dave Sipley
Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Right-click to download.

The Hidden Truth

Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh.

George Bernard Shaw said that over a century ago. I know that ’cause I like to collect quotes from famous people. I’ve got eight quote books back at my bunk. I’m trying to catalog them all to remove the duplicates. This one’s one of my favorites. Even though I’m not very funny, I love thinking about what is funny and what makes us laugh.

I don’t get it why people get mad when I laugh when other people die.

Everyone’s got their own way of dealing with grief, you know?

I just wish their way of dealing with it wasn’t beating me up or yelling at me.

It’s just my way of taking things seriously.

I used to try and explain myself to them and tell them about George Bernard Shaw, but that just made them madder. They started calling me Shaw. They’re ignorant. I’m not. I know– because Shaw taught me–that when something is funny, you should search it carefully for a hidden truth.

People dying makes life funny, which makes me laugh, which makes life serious.

I don’t know what the hidden truth is yet. Maybe that’s because life is serious, not funny. Maybe there is no hidden truth. But does that make life funny because the lack of a hidden truth is a hidden truth?

I don’t know yet. I’m going to keep looking anyway. People keep dying, so there’s no shortage of laughter. If I’m going to find that hidden truth, it’s going to be somewhere around the Zone. Probably with a Z chewing on its ass.

That would be seriously hilarious.

One last Breath

During the first weeks of the zone I lost my mother. Then I lost my kid brother. I was beginning  to think death was only to come by way of the scourge. Was rare that anyone past naturally or accidentally. All you read about in the obituary is “Cause of death: Unknown.” Although everyone knew what had happened to all those people. As I walked the almost ghost town like streets of the Zone I think to myself. I asked myself questions. Questions that can only be answered by one of the utmost highest power, that’s right, God. I’m not a religious man. But in here you need something to believe in. There has to be more after death than…than that! I don’t want to imagine biting into the flesh of a human. A living person. Someones family, someones love.

I would ask questions like Why does he let this happen? Why watch a beautiful creature you created end up corrupt. And knowing you have the power to stop it, yet you watch it destroy the rest of the race. I would ask Is this punishment for all the wars? Or is this just another war? Biological war on the human race? It was in this state of mind i came up with the question that he couldn’t answer. No one could till you where in that spot at that time. What would you say with you one last breath? Would you scream the name of your lover? Would you scream for help? Would you simply let out a yell hoping someone would at least try to save you knowing that it would do no good? One cannot answer that question. They say we are safest here than anywhere else. I believe them to an extent. They don’t take into mind that people have lost the only thing that matter in a time like this. Loved ones. Whether it be aunts, uncles, siblings, or parents. Yes we are physically safe for the most part. But mentally we are screwed. You don’t know until you lose someone to those monsters. You have no idea how hard it is to cope with the pain. The thought you think. The plans you make. Never knowing whether to go threw with them or not.

Some say the brain is the most powerful weapon to ever be created. I was 21 Bravo (Combat Engineer) in the United States Army for 13 years before the infection broke out. I fought in WW III. I’ve seen things people only have nightmares about. I’ve seen men cut in half from an I.E.D explosion putting a Humvee door threw them. I once saw a man who lost his legs. But in fear of rejection from his family he took his own life. That is something no M-4 can do. Or an AK-47. The mind can play tricks on people. Make them see things they don’t. Injecting many emotions: fear, anger, and confusion are the majors. Severely disorienting  them. Making them think things that would never in a million years go threw a normal mind.

After all these years of seeing a majority of destructive and dangerous weapons due to my job title. I had no belief  in the saying “the mind is the most powerful weapon created.” After seeing the things people do to them self’s or even to others in a torture room. I take back what i said. The mind is a very powerful weapon if not the most.

The most disturbing thing about living in the past few years is the sights. Not of people being devoured. But the families and friends after the nasty deed is done. Hunched up in a ball crying. Rocking back and forth almost like to push out the reality of what just happend. That is the mind at work. Suicide is the mind at work. In this battle agaisnt our own bodies and minds. We lose. I lose. So to who ever finds this note. You will not find my body, so don’t look. You wont come up with any evidence, so don’t try.  These are my last words. Take all this into mind to whomever is reading this note. Absorb these words. To who ever has this in there hands. This is what i am saying with my one last breath.

The Long Journey

Lloyd O’Keefe loved to tell stories. To pass the time Lloyd would entertain others with wild tales. One winter evening a small crowd gathered in the hotel lobby trying to stay warm and away from the howling winds outside. Lloyd thought that a story might take their minds off of the cold for a little while.

“Did you ever hear the tale of the Corps’ 189th squad?” he asked some of the teenagers that were gathered nearby.

“Never heard of ‘em. Do the squad numbers even go that high?”

“Well, they’re not around anymore. They were one of the earliest squads of the Zone. You were only a young kid then. Get comfortable and I’ll tell you about them.”

Some of the group sat on the floor around Lloyd huddling under blankets for warmth as he began…

Continue reading ‘The Long Journey’

Let’s Do It

Squish. “Hey, Parker. Remember what you asked me about a month ago?”

Thunk. “Vannawhite, Parker’s been asking you to get naked twenty times a week for the last year. What’s so special about a month ago?”

Crack. “Shut up, Uptown. Parker. You remember?”

Klunk. “Yeah. I remember.”

Pop. “You still wanna?”

Bonk. “I guess so. Yeah.”

Smack. “Let’s do it. Right now.”

Whack. “Now?”

Thud. “Right now. I want to do it right now.”

Continue reading ‘Let’s Do It’

Blue Zone Zyracuse 08: It’s a Small World After All

“It’s a Small World After All” by Dave Sipley

 

Read by Dave Sipley
Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Right-click to download.