Mark Clodi - Ascension

"C'mon!" Ramey yelled to his remaining followers as he rushed towards the edge of the bridge.

The shotgun was gone and Red hit the swollen North Platte river fifteen yards upstream, he was certain his right arm and leg were broken, 'Hell maybe some ribs on that side too. What the fuck was that he did to me?'

Above Ramey reached the side of the bridge just as Red was being swept underneath it. By the time Red flowed by the bridge his bones had healed and he was striking out for the eastern bank of the river. Ramey spotted him as he pulled himself up onto the bank and Red felt another mental assault, he braced himself to be hit by the invisible bus again. After not receiving another blow he looked back and saw that the group was moving along the bridge, heading towards him at a jog.

' I should have stayed with Jimbo another day and learned more about this mental crap.' Red thought, struggling through the thick mud to take cover under the bridge.

Red concentrated on keeping himself undetectable from Ramey and he was pretty sure it was working. Five zombies dropped down on the downstream side of the bridge, four of them landed in the mud and sunk up to their knees, the fifth landed softly and padded under the bridge as if walking on solid ground. 'Another useful trick.' thought Red. With no time for subtlety Red launched himself at the first zombie while the other struggled to clamber out of the mud. 'I guess my mind control didn't override Ramey's' Red told himself, launching a mental attack before he impacted the middle aged female. With one outstretched blow he tore her head, part of her shoulder and one of her arms from her body. Her head and mouth continued to move, making a muffled gurgle noise as Red bent over and picked up her body by the legs. He twirled it once and flung it at a three of the zombies who were close to each other in the mud, knocking two over. The one he missed ducked quickly and fired at Red with an assault rifle, the fourth man joined him a split second later.

Bullets pounded into Red's body, most flew through him, but he felt his shoulders and ribs cave in under the barrage and flung himself down to grab for the woman's gun, which lay at his feet. Rolling towards the water Red fired an inaccurate burst that did little to dissuade the two firing on him. He had some luck and one of the zombies weapons jammed. Red concentrated on the only zombie firing at him, his next three round burst struck the guy in the neck and face, shattering his jaw and blowing off one of his ears. The thing went down, but was still moving. The two Red had knocked over with the body were now prone and firing in Red's direction, but they could not see him very well from where he was laying close to the river. Fountains of dirt spit up near the top of the bank and after a furious minute of firing, all gunshots ceased. Red was out of ammo. He raised the barrel of the rifle up to one side of where he was, another short fusillade rang out and then stopped. Slipping and sliding Red rose in the mud and jumped sideways as the bullets stuttered to a stop. Feeling around mentally Red looked for Ramey. The zombie was on the upriver side of the bridge, as Red watched he jumped off and seemed to glide down underneath of it.

The bridges were very wide, the highway in this part of the country was six lanes wide and Ramey was at the end of a long, low corridor. Red felt he could deal with the lessor zombies before having to face Ramey again, but he kept a tab on the man so he would not be surprised. The three zombies who were still up moved towards Red with a purpose, their guns held as clubs. The arm and head of the woman he had struck initially had a bloated sack attached to it where the zombie's body was trying to re-grow, red counted her as out. Likewise the man he had shot in the face was still crawling around on his hands and knees. The three to one odds didn't bother Red in the least; these were lessor zombies, things not even of Jimbo's quality. Stepping up to the first one Red laughed as he ducked under the swung rifle, then came up fast and broke the zombies arm at the elbow. He launched a fist that struck the thing in the side of the head, crushing its skull and flinging bits of brain and both eyes to the mud when his hand passed through it.

Both of the remaining zombies looked like they wanted to run, but Red couldn't risk having them turned by Ramey and used against him. The zombies saw no mercy in him, even as their eyes pleaded that they had no choice. Both jumped him at the same time, hindering each other more than helping and Red grabbed on by a flailing arm and spun, letting go when the zombie was swinging towards the river. The zombie sailed out over the water and hit the concrete support twenty feet off shore, it dropped like a misshapen, white sack of flesh, no longer resembling a human body. The last zombie had fallen after making the poorly timed jump and swung his legs around to sweep Red's feet out from under him. Red was not quick enough to dodge and fell on his thigh in the slippery mud. Both scrabbled to their feet and stood facing each other. Ramey ran up firing his gun, at the same time he grabbed ahold of Red's mind, trying to pin his opponent in place to make a head shot possible. Red was surprised at the ferocity of the mental attack.

' I shoulda known he would be a fast learner.' Red thought to himself as Ramey slowed down his reactions. Bullets walked up Red's body, the last of which smashed through his adam's apple and blew out his spinal column, dropping him like a rock. Red fell on his back and lay there looking up as Ramey and his remaining zombie approached.

"I guess if you want something done you just gotta do it yourself." Ramey said, coming into Red's view. "Look Ed, he's a twitcher!"

Pointing at Red's body with his gun he continued, "How long until you heal that up? A minute? Less? Probably. More if I do this." Ramey pointed his gun at Red's neck and let loose with full burst, then another, he fired until his magazine was empty, then reloaded.

Red felt like his head was severed, his body was not even shaking anymore and he had no feeling anywhere.

"I could kill you now. But I am going to make you wish you were dead instead."

Red's perspective changed, he was being lifted, but both Ramey and the other zombie were standing there unmoving, 'The bastard is using his telekinesis on me. Goddamn it, what is my special power?'

"Red, did you know that your body will grow back? Look at Leslie over there, you did a number on her, but she will be okay. For her though, well she will come back a little less powerful, she loses something, but zombies at our level, we don't lose anything. If I were to walk away right now, you would be right as rain in a day or two. I've seen it. I've experimented with other stubborn assholes like you. Why, I let one guy grow out three times and he seemed pretty much the same to me even after that. I think I will keep you somewhere safe, somewhere I can continue my research. Will you be the same after a hundred times? I mean, think about it, is that even possible? Physically, it makes no sense; you don't need any sustenance, so where does this power come from?"

Red croaked a reply, but his throat was still too mangled to make a response.

"Shhh. Shhh. Don't talk." Ramey said, putting one finger on Red's lips, "I know you're grateful now that I haven't killed you-that you think you will figure out a way to overcome me and still win. And you might have, with your ability to block me out mentally. But you won't and in the end I will get inside you and figure out what you did, then I can do it too. Then Aubrey and I are going to set down and have a little chat. Oh that's right you don't know Aubrey do you? She was sent to Chicago along with James and me. Much like you and old what's his name went to Denver. Don't worry about that now, no you just rest. Bring him Ed."