Postmortem: Two Thousand Years Later

[gooberboob]

This is one of the better stories I've read.

[TheGuitarist]

This kicks bootay. You could take it in a bunch of different directions, and the quality of the writing is excellent. Keep it up.

[unscratchedfoot]

Re: Postmortem: Two Thousand Years Later

Now we really wanna find out what happened at the mine. I thought the woman was originally freaked from what the dead body actually looked like. It's quite well-written, amazing considering that english isn't your native language.

As per usual, there's a unsure sentence:

Originally posted by vovansim
Her husband never returned.

Are you talking about up to that point or after it? I felt it might need a 'had' right in the middle of that sentence because you mentioned he hadn't returned that day at all.

[vovan]

Re: Re: Postmortem: Two Thousand Years Later

Originally posted by unscratchedfoot
I thought the woman was originally freaked from what the dead body actually looked like.

It's what you don't see that scares you, leaving your mind to conjure up what horror lurks around the corner. --Alfred Hitchcock

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Where is everyone today? is there a civ 3 story writers daytrip and no one told me!!

Hurry up and give us some more my good friend

I hope you do not mind what happened to Vovan in Mikes Story.

[vovan]

Postmortem: Two Thousand Years Later

Here is the next installment. Hope you, folks, like it. I really appreciate all the feedback.

Having spent an enormous amount of time, trying to calm Svetlana down (I found out her name in the process), I resolved that the matter of the dead body could not wait till the next day. So, I lifted the receiver, and dialed the number 02 (for police). However, a series of long tones was all I heard in response. I looked at the clock. 22:24. And everybody is already gone over there? Ridiculous. But then again, when was the last time a crime occurred in our town? Nobody remembers now. That’s why the police have relaxed.

At any rate, I informed Svetlana, that it would be impossible to take care of the body in the fashion prescribed by law, as this law is already seeing its tenth dream. Her anxiousness for her husband, however, made her immovable and nothing could persuade her to postpone finding out who the body belonged to. The woman was terrified by the idea of seeing it again, yet reluctant to leave it lying there, and absolutely against the idea of being uncertain whether it was her husband or not till the morning. I proposed that she call home and find out if Alexander, her husband, had returned. (Frankly I didn’t favour the idea of encountering dead bodies in the middle of the night, either.) She did, but nobody picked up the receiver, which thrust her into further despair. She started crying again, and was on the brink of hysterics. Clearly, I would have to go out there, and get the body.

I started dressing myself to go outside. I wasn’t in a great hurry, and the longer it took me, the more distinctly could I feel the fine shivering in the bottom of my stomach – the messenger of fear. At some point, I found myself standing in front of the mirror, one hand in the sleeve of the fur-coat, the other – holding down the scarf on the neck, staring blankly at nothing in particular, my lips moving. It seemed my thoughts: “I’m not afraid. I deal with dead people every day. I am not afraid!” – found their way out through almost inaudible whisper.

I startled, as if suddenly coming back to life from the depths of my mind, foreshadowing something ugly, and hurried to finish up dressing and be on my way to the mine - I suddenly realized that if I spend ten more minutes getting ready, the terror would overwhelm me, and no force will be able to drag me outside. So, I hastily buttoned up the coat, grabbed my fur cap, and rushed out of the door, into the snowstorm.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Woo scary stuff,

This really tense, well written vovansim keep it coming.
A nice change of style to other stories here.

[unscratchedfoot]

Not necessarily scary because that body in the snow could very well still be alive! Nobody checked "its" pulse did they? It could even be a poorly conceived practical joke where all the police and factory workers hide for a day and see what the townsfolk's reaction is. That Volvodude is a crafty character and may have a big surprise in the works.

[steamthunk]

"I'm not afraid."
"You will be. You will be."


I demand that this story be moved to a separate Civ3-Stories-Horror for forum so that those of us with delicate natures are not disturbed!

[ChrisiusMaximus]

vovansim where are you, I have'nt seen any posts by you recently. Well not since you went out into that snowstorm to look for that body. Tell a lie I have seen your posts on other threads but not for a couple of days now.

I hope you are alright and have been busy writing another thrilling part of the story, very much looking forward to the next part.

[vovan]

Sorry about the delay, folks, - I have been a little sick these past several days, and did not check these forums. But I do have some chapters of the story coming up. Hope they were worth the wait.

[vovan]

Postmortem: Two Thousand Years Later

It seemed the wind was constantly blowing in my face. The sudden gusts flung the snow at me, which stuck to my face, and got into the eyes. It felt as if thousands of tiny needles were poking at my cheeks, and an ice-cold veil was being thrown over the eyes. My poor nose. It felt especially bad. I have always wondered why, oh, why did they invent gloves for the hands, when we could just put them into the pockets of the fur-coat, and not for the nose, which had to be outside. I could feel the tiny drops of vapour from my breath freeze inside my nostrils, and all the little capillaries, veins and arteries constrict so tightly that the whole nose began to hurt, and became insensible to touch.

My god, I thought, even though I am an atheist, my god, what am I doing here. Why could I not wait till the morning, and let the police handle the whole case! And the wind, the horrible wind, that pierced right through the clothes, and touched my stomach with its icy grip. It felt as if the nature itself was trying to stop me. The wind and the snow pushing me back to the warmth and safety of shelter.

And yet, I moved on. Making up excuses to give to Svetlana, if I return with nothing, I made my way to the mine. As I was passing the building with the air pump for the mine, I noticed some words scratched on the concrete wall. I came closer. It looked like the inscription was made with a rusty nail, in a bad handwriting. “Claw was here”, the writing said. I shook my head. That kid. He was obsessed with strange things, and loved to pull pranks on people. One evening, I stayed late in the morgue, filling out forms, and doing other paperwork. Around midnight, he sneaked up to the window, and started howling like a wolf. As I leaned out to tell him the joke wasn’t funny, he hurled a snowball right in my face, shouted: “Got any werewolves in your freezer, mister Pleshkov?” -- and ran away, screaming: “The dead shall walk, the dead shall walk!” -- bursting into an occasional fit of laughter.

With such thoughts, I approached the mine entrance. By now, I was almost tiptoeing, not walking, as if there was somebody to scare away. The wind had clamed down, and I was trying to see as far as I could, to spot the body. And yet, white snow was evenly covering the space ahead of me -- I could see nothing dark. This idea made me a little sick, because I thought of having to dig in the snow to find the body. After all, it must have been more than three hours now since Svetlana last was here: the snow could have covered the body. The fact that I couldn’t see her tracks convinced me that that was the case even more. I went through the gate, and saw a track in the snow. It was a groove, as if somebody dragged a body!

[ChrisiusMaximus]

more scary stuff, a great mystery this vovansim please keep up the good work.

[vovan]

Postmortem: Two Thousand Years Later

Thanks for the inexhasutible support, that your posts have always been, Chrisius.

I stood there, like a fool, staring at the track, trying to decide whether to follow it or not. After all, if somebody dragged the body away, they must have had a reason for doing so. Therefore, they wouldn’t be too happy if I start bugging them. Satisfied with that thought, I turned around to walk back to the morgue. But then I thought of Svetlana. She must be sitting there, waiting for me to bring in the body, and verify that it is not her husband. I imagined coming in, and telling her instead, that somebody dragged the body away. Ugh. I always hated it when people cry. I just cannot stand that. And she would surely beat in hysterics, if her painful foreshadowing were prolonged further.

I turned back to take yet another look at the groove as if it would tell me who it was that dragged the body away, or better yet, who the unfortunate victim was. Besides, maybe it was just some drunken man that passed out in front of the mine? Yes, yes, it all made sense now. It must have been somebody’s birthday. So, all the men left the mine early to go to the party. They were in such a hurry that they didn’t even close the gate behind them. By seven o’clock, when Svetlana was passing the mine, the party had already been in progress, and one of the men had drunk so much, that he fell asleep in a snow bank. And her husband wasn’t at home, because he was out with his buddies. That made perfect sense! But what about the night watch? He must have gone to the restroom or something.

And now, the man must have gone away, having come back to his senses from the cold. Then again, this track didn’t look too much like person walking... Well, maybe he crawled away, too weak to walk?

What a great thought! How come I didn’t think of that earlier? Indeed, how foolish of me to be so frightened, when the explanation might have been so simple. In a much better mood, I headed to the booth of the night watch to tell him of this silly misunderstanding and have a nice laugh together.

To be continued...

This chapter is dedicated to unscratchedfoot, whose prediction was the closest yet. Or was it?

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Our hero still does not seem to comprehend the danger he is in, and just what will he find when he reaches the night watchmans hut.