REVIVAL by Nick Venom (great book club books .TXT) 📕

Zake turned around to face the zombies. “And you all will become my soldiers!” He declared. He then turned around to face the girl. “You will become my assistant and I’ll name you… Jessica.”

TBC…

A red-haired woman wearing square glasses and a gray pantsuit dashed down a hallway, turning around the corner on the right side, and headed into the room at the end of the hallway. She burst into the room where five scientists in lab coats were discussing worthless topics. Once the woman entered the room, attention shifted to her. One of the scientists with spiky black hair, dark emerald eyes, and porcelain skin, jumped up. “What’s the problem?” He asked/

“Project Wraith has escaped!” She exclaimed. The scientist crinkled his eyebrows before turning towards his colleagues, barking orders at them.

“Send the news to the Head Order and locate Project Wraith! We can’t let her escape!” The scientist shouted. The four scientists that sat on wooden chairs orbiting the round white table shot up and sprinted out of the room, working as messengers. 

Meanwhile, the scientist that remained behind, approached the woman. “Mary, thanks for the message. You can return home and spend some time with your son. We’ll deal with this problem.”

“No! I can still help, Frank!” Mary shouted, shaking her head. 

Frank opened his mouth, but the only thing that escaped was a sigh. “What about Ghost? Isn’t he important to you?” He asked her.

“Ghost is old enough to take care of himself. I’m doing this to protect him!” She argued.

“Huh? Sometimes I believe you’re a bad parent.” He joked.

“Sometimes I think the same,” Mary remarked. She then turned around and left the room, retracting her steps. Frank remained in the conference room and sat down at a chair with a stack of files in front of it. The file on top had two words printed in bold print. Frank noticed the words and spoke them out loud. “Project Wraith.”

***

A blonde teenage girl wearing a hospital gown appeared from out of a bush, looking at both sides of a dirt road before scurrying across it. She dove into the next set of bushes, dirtying her gown while crawling towards the next road. She crossed an acre of woods to meet the next road---which happened to be the main road of the camp she found herself in. She peeked her head out of a bush and peered at the guards---one patrolling the main gate while the other paced back and forth on the main road. The guard patrolling the road was of smaller stature and looked young. In a holster on his left hip was a pistol. Whether or not it was loaded was another question.

The teenage guard wore the guard’s outfit of a royal-blue tee shirt and a pair of brand new jeans with dark green sneakers. The teenager’s hair stood out to the blonde girl; his vibrant red hair---that he parted to the left---shined off the sun rays. He looked handsome, in contrast to many of the other people the girl saw before.  

As the guard patrolled the road, he noticed the blonde girl, tilting his head at her appearance. Before calling out to the girl, the guard peered over his shoulder at the guard controlling the main gate. The Main Gate Guard didn’t pay any mind to him, allowing him to approach the girl, asking her “Hey, are you okay?” He extended a hand to her, but she refused it with a yelp. She backed away from the guard with a shocked expression. She shook her head as she gathered the strength to retrace her steps through the acre of woods. “Do you need help?” The guard repeated, taking a step forward.

“Who are you?” The girl blurted out, taking a step backward.

“I’m Ghost, a guard trainee. Who are you?” He asked.

“Uh, uh, uh.” The girl stammered, looking down at her multiple scars on her torso, arms, and legs. 

“Are you hurt?” He asked.

“No…” The girl whispered.

Ghost nodded before looking around. He leaned in closer to the girl. “I have some experience with patching wounds. I used to do that with… my… own,” He whispered. The girl shook her head violently while slightly growling at him. Ghost reached his hand out to grab at the girl’s arm, but she pulled away. She turned around and dashed into the woods. 

“Maybe I shouldn’t have tried that.” He thought aloud. “Mom always told me I was bad with girls.” He looked over at the Main Gate Guard who focused on the road more than Ghost. “She’s really hurt and something’s off with her. I need to help her.” He ducked into the shrubbery before launching him into a full sprint to follow after the girl with no supervision of the other guard---who didn’t realize that he disappeared. 

TBC…

“Okay, you three will serve as my first squad,” Zake remarked towards a collection of zombies. The zombies carried no weapons and only had their rotting skin to their unknown names. 

“Now, how do I train you?” He thought out loud. 

“I could help,” Jessica whispered. 

Zake shook his head, turning to face her. He patted her head. “You don’t know how to fight. I’ll deal with their training.”

“I want to help,” she said, “I don’t want to be a burden.”

“You’re not.” He told her. “Without you, I would’ve gone insane here by myself.” He patted her head again, smiling at her.

She looked up and smiled at him. 

“One… two… three…” His voice trailed off as he counted the zombies, totaling seven of them. “I need five of you to gather materials like wood, one of you to stick with Jessica, and the other to follow me.” He ordered, using his element to move the zombies around. The zombies went off to complete their tasks.

The zombie that Zake asked to follow him was led to an even deeper part of the forest to help with collecting more zombies. For some reason, Zake wasn’t able to gather more zombies by himself. Only the ones that were in the clearing when he arrived were loyal to him. Any random zombies wandering around avoided Zake and the clearing altogether. Almost as if they feared Zake’s powers. 

However, this fear dissipated if Zake was assisted by a zombie brethren to act as the mediator. 

“Okay, I need you to round up more zombies. Do whatever you have to, to get them on our side.” Zake told the zombie, which was the first one he had encountered. “Everything except begging on your knees. When I build a kingdom, I don’t want to be reminded that I begged for help.” He glanced over his shoulder, noticing Jessica behind him. She quickly ducked behind a tree, but the zombie that acted as her bodyguard remained in the open. 

“Okay,” He remarked before focusing on the zombie in front of him. “Now, go! Bring me reinforcements.” The zombie nodded, clearly understanding what he was saying. It turned around and stumbled away to locate more zombies.

With a zombie to collect more zombies, Zake worked on his next plan. He wanted to summon a monster using his Death Element. “How do I summon a monster?” He thought aloud. “Do I?” He pointed his palms at the floor, chanting the name of his element. However, this proved to be fruitless as it did nothing other than making him look awkward. 

“Do I do a specific chant? Like-” He glanced around his surroundings. “Blue fire trees. Blue fire trees, give me a monster.” 

His chant did nothing but exponentially multiply his awkwardness. “What do I do?” He shouted, frightening Jessica---who was still watching from behind a tree. “Oh, I’m sorry.” He said, rushing to her side. He consoled her, trying to calm her down before she burst into tears. 

“I wasn’t yelling at you. I was yelling at himself for my stupidity.”

“You weren’t?” She asked, looking up at him with her wide eyes.

“No, I wasn’t. I’m just-” He glanced at the spot he was standing at a few seconds ago. “-confused about summoning.” 

“Summoning? I know how?” Jessica said.

Zake grabbed her shoulders, leaning in. “You do! Can you teach me?”

Jessica nodded her head. “You say ‘birth a-” Her tone changed suddenly. Her usual demeanor of a quiet and timid girl changed into fierceness and anger. “-monster from Hell and bring it to me!”

“Jessica?” Zake muttered, speechless. 

Jessica looked at Zake and panicked. “Oh... I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to see that side.”

“That’s… okay.” He turned away from her and went back to his spot, ignoring her sudden attitude change. He started chanting, “birth me a monster from Hell and bring it to me.”

The ground in front of him birthed a magic circle full of unintelligible words. The words were from the demon’s tongue, unknown to any other race. 

The magic circle granted Zake’s wish, bringing him a monster in an elder lich. The black-cloaked lich with white paper surrounding him raised his head to meet Zake’s stare. He lowered his head. “My name is Derrick, an elder lich. I am at your service, my liege.”

“You are an elder lich? Aren’t you a high-tier monster?”

“Indeed, I am. I’m also one of the strongest of my kind, at your disposal, my liege.”

“Then I’ll be your master, Zake. Behind me is Jessica, my assistant.”

“Master and Elder Sister, I understand,” Derrick said, classifying the younger-looking Jessica as his Elder Sister. She was by Zake’s side longer than Derrick, earning her that title. 

“Good, I guess. Welcome to the Death Forest, Derrick. This will become our home.”

“Thank you, my liege. I am proud to be serving under such a fearsome Death Element user.” He remarked.

“Raise your head, Derrick. We have much work to do.”

Derrick raised his head. “As you see fit, my liege.”

A little boy notices a clump of zombies dumping wood in an empty clearing. Fearing the monsters, the boy rushed off to report the strange situation. He headed towards Bluehaven.

TBC…