Post by Pally on Jun 21, 2018 14:42:44 GMT
It was the start of the Mudder's festival in Murkland and the Fire and Music Festival lot had been made over to honor Mad Mud. It was to be a week of mischievous deeds, face paint and dancing. I invited Mud to come and eat a meal with me and tell me his story. I knew he loved talking about himself and soon we were sitting side by side. I admit he made me nervous, and I burst into a murky sweat, but he didn't seem to mind. He winked at me and said I reminded him of my mother.
"I lived in the city all my life before the plague came," Mud began, his eyes twinkled with mischief, "I was leader of a, well, most people called them gangs back then. I had respect and power. Although most did not take kindly to our, 'art', we enjoyed making the city a little more, colorful."
"Most of our work had to be done in secret and at night. When no one would be looking or trying to stop us. I had a favorite building I enjoyed making my mark in. No one should of cared, it was completely abandoned, but I still had to work in secret."
"One night I was busy painting a floor mural when I heard a soft sweet woman's voice call my name. She knew my real name. The one my mother had given me the day of my birth. I turned to see the most beautiful woman I had ever laid my eyes on! Her skin was the palest blue, her hair a silver white, she glowed like the brightest star. Once I drew closer to her I could tell she was not of this world."
"Her eyes looked as if they held a galaxy within them and as she began to speak, I could tell she was some sort of alien prophetess. She foretold of a great calamity that would swiftly come upon our world. Many lives would be lost. Many cities would fall. Calamity on an apocalyptic scale."
"I did not believe her at first. It was in my nature to always doubt, especially women. I had yet to meet one who I was able to trust completely. She told me her words were without fault and they had already begun to take place as she spoke with me."
""A plague has already begun," she told me, "a plague that would change the very nature and form of human beings. Those effected would become horrid creatures who would attack and kill others, destroy what was and lay to waste all else." She spoke with such conviction I could not doubt her any longer."
"She said there would be survivors, people who would need leaders to help them rebuild and to find their way in the wasteland left behind. She had chosen me to be one and was going to offer me a gift. She smiled and blew me a kiss. I had a strange feeling come over me and then a strange urge to eat grilled cheese. She spoke with me a little longer before leaving. The room filled with a blinding light that felt like it pierced me to the bone, and then she was gone."
"The following morning, I was leaving the building when one of my fellow gang members, we all called Scar, showed up. He said he had been looking for me and then he stopped in mid sentence. "What happened to your skin, man?"He had asked. It seemed being in the presence of the alien woman had caused my skin to whiten. I told Scar about everything she had told me."
"I also told him about the gift she had given me so that I might be able to 'feed my people'. He did not believe me so I proved it to him by summoning a grilled cheese sandwich. A single focused thought was all it took and, poof, it was in my hand, plate and all."
"He begged me to forgive him for his disbelief. I will confess, I was confused at first why he was treating me. As if I was some sort of god, but I did like being treated as such. The power it gave me. Oh, I knew all power had bounds and should be treated with respect, I would not be the leader I am today if I felt otherwise, but I enjoyed the feeling none the less."
"Then our phones both buzzed out in a warning signal. The CDC had issued a world wide travel ban because a plague had begun spreading causing world wide chaos. Some people were falling sick and dying so fast there were only minutes between first contact with the disease and death."
"I told Scar to take cover somewhere safe and to stay hidden until this all blew over. We could not of known at the time how extensive this would all be. But I knew I needed to get to Oasis Springs. The Prophetess foretold that it was there I would fulfill her prophecies. I told him we would meet again there if we both survived. Then we went our separate ways."
"I was able to make my way to Oasis Springs, but the government was picking up people who were not sick and forcing them into these 'safe camps'. I tried to avoid it but was caught and forced to submit for 'my own good', they said. I admit it was probably for the best. We heard the crazy reports of stuff going on outside the camp walls. It was truly a wonder anyone survived out in the open."
"The camp itself was not too bad. It was just after a time, all the rules became a tiresome pointless routine that stifled ones inner self. I more than once butted heads with the camp leader, the Mayor referred to as 'Scruffy'. He claimed I was a disruptive influence. That I caused chaos within the bunk houses by trying to break rules and get others to follow me."
"I still feel he was over exaggerating the matter. I never forced anyone to follow me even to this day. They all simple choose to. On one occasion he said I was destroying government property by putting my 'art' on the walls around my bunk. If I was allowed to just do as I pleased then how could they maintain order and keep up their hold over the people."
"I told him they had no right to control ones freedoms in such a manner. My 'art' was harmless and it made living in this suffocating place tolerable. My outburst got me put on a warning list. In the end it ultimately lost me the sole rulership over Murkland. Although I think the Mayor being friends with Scruffy had something to do with it as well."
Our meal arrived and I took the moment to ask him if that was why he disliked the Mayor so much. He gave a sarcastic laugh and said that the Mayor was more devious than people gave him credit for. Then he pulled out a little vile and put a few drops of liquid on his food. "One can never be too careful," he said with a wink. I admit I was shocked, would the Mayor really try and poison him?
He saw my expression and continued on with his story between bites of food. "I had no real issues with the Mayor back at the camp," he began again, "well, that is at first. I knew he was jealous of my natural charm. I have always had the ability to get people to do as I say. It's a gift. I think it really all started with his wife. I had seen the way she looked at me at meal times and on other occasions. Then one night she asked me to join her in watching a movie."
"You see, most of the people at the camp went to sleep at a set time. They followed the rules like sheep after their master. I took the quite time to watch movies alone. I was surprised to find her there waiting for me. We began our discussion with small talk but soon she was smiling that smile and flirting with me. Rather heavily I might add."
"Well, I would of never pursued it. Honestly she was not my type, that didn't mean I disliked the attention. Just a few harmless jokes and such. Next thing I know the Mayor comes into the room and grabs her off the sofa. Then he starts yelling at me and calling me various names I won't repeat to you. One thing led to another and a fight broke out."
"Oh no, he didn't win. He had lived too soft of a life before coming to the camp to put up much of a fight. I on the other hand had to fight to stay on top, living on the streets in the city. I made a lot of empty threats to him, making sure he knew his place. After that he and his wife stayed clear of me. Looking back on the whole thing now I can't help but wonder if it was all on purpose. It was after that fight they decided who got to govern Murkland."
"I raised quite a stink about it, because I had originally put in for the place first and they had guaranteed it to me since no one else wanted it. Well, in the end it was decided I was to be given only a small share of what was left of the town, but as fate would have it, it was just the spot I needed."
"The alien prophetess had told me she would scatter a strange berry around Murkland and with it we could grow a plant that would give an essence that could in turn be used to drink or make food stuff. I spent months looking for them. Wandering the hot dusty desert. Then one day during my searching I ran into an old friend, Scar. Although I barely recognized him."
"His skin was a pale grey and his head was completely bald. He wore a little cap, I assumed it was to protect his head from the sun. He looked as if he had not eaten anything for months. He told me some of his story and how he had to live in fear and darkness until he and a few others made their way to Murkland."
"He took me back to the little shack he and the others lived in and told me how they had found some old computers and had been able to hack into what was left of the internet. Which was mainly being used by the remaining government to share information and such. They had learned I was being sent here and had been awaiting my arrival."
"The others all had the same pale grey skin and bald heads. They also all had the same tattooed markings as I had. Scar told me it was all done in my honor. Soon we all began to paint our faces in a way so as to invoke fear and dread in those we had to deal with. Fear can be a powerful weapon if one uses it in the right way. More powerful than any gun or knife. Fear works from the inside out."
"And so, I became Mad Mud and they were among my first followers. My Mad Mudders. They pledge their lives for the good of the faction. As I explored more of my share of Murkland. I discovered I was in control of the old jail house and those who lived there, a few ex cons with nowhere else to go, as well as an old bunker that housed a young couple. All of them paid me the respect any ruler would of wanted."
"There was also an old abandoned gas station near by, or at least I thought it was abandoned. While exploring one night I discovered a group of clones had been living there. They were cast out during the apocalypse as some unwanted science experiment, sent out to fend for themselves. They were all children at the time, and they were more human l than the clone drones the Mayor had found."
"One of them showed me to a place where I could build a great fortress and be able to look out on all that was mine. He promised that he and the others would help me build my faction to be stronger than the Mayor's. I was on my way to becoming more powerful than I had hoped. I had a strong group of young men to help me and what did the Mayor have but a couple of clones and a few hippies."
"Everything was perfect, that was until I received a gift. It was a strange looking cake that one of my mudders brought to me one afternoon. It was not very appealing to look at, but it smelled good. It had been ages too since I had last ate cake. So I took a slice."
"As soon as I had finished the last bite, I felt every muscle in my body start to ache, every bone. I aged thirty years in a matter of seconds. I was angry and confused. My body refusing to let me get up from my chair as fast as I tried to make it."
"When I was finally on my feet, I called Scar to me and demanded to know where they had gotten this,'gift'! He told me he received it from one of the Mayor's drones. They told him it would reveal to me a great secret that would help my faction. I had learned the secret of the grow up cake in the worst possible way. I was angry beyond imagination."
"I gathered my mudders and we went strait away to the Mayor's dwelling. He was out relaxing with his wife and nearly burst out laughing at the site of me, now an old man. I flung the rest of the cake at his feet and demanded he give me an antidote, a remedy to fix what he had done. With a gloating smile, he told me there was none. I flew at him in a rage and in the end grabbed a handful of the cake and forced him to eat it. Now we are both old men, ruling this Murkland together, but always at odds."
"Now I always test strange food with a few drops of a special liquid Dr. George made for me. That is one thing you must always remember if you are to survive, never trust anyone or anything, and the cake is always a lie."
Then he rose slowly and shuffled off in his old man walk back toward his home. He had given me quite a lot to think about and write down. It was clear why he hated the Mayor, I mean, the man had stole part of his life that he was never to get back. Although since he forced him to eat some of the cake too, one would think they were even. I still had a few questions I knew only Dr. George could answer. But first I'd have to track him down.