The Nidus Initiative: Chapter 1

  It was a nightmare.  Brewster Sutton had put his child to bed only minutes before.  He had tucked his son Oliver into bed and was just sitting at his laptop to maintain his online import/export business when the boy charged him from out of nowhere.  Brewster was a single father and his relationship with his only child was a good one so this vicious attack seemed out of the ordinary.  Five-year-old Oliver was being truly savage.  He seemed as if he was really trying to hurt Brewster with his fingernails and teeth.
  Brewster had little trouble in neutralizing the threat by wrapping his son in a bear hug, but Oliver was still trying to scratch or bite anything in reach.  Brewster was able to see his son's eyes.  They were moving around rapidly.  Was this an indication that Oliver was asleep?  So was this just a particularly horrific episode of somnambulism?
  Oliver was allergic to bees and so he had an epinephrine kit.  Brewster made his way to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, dragging his son along kicking and screaming.  He lay his son down and straddled him, pinning him to the floor.  He prepared the hypodermic needle and carefully injected his son in the leg.  After a moment, the struggling abated and Brewster cautiously eased off his son.
  Oliver was now calm, though confused.  "Daddy, how did I get in the bathroom?"
  Brewster sighed.  "I don't know, Pooper.  You were sleep walking and daddy woke you up."  Oliver still didn't understand and neither did Brewster.
  Brewster was shaken up by the episode and knew he wouldn't get any work done that night.  He also knew Oliver wouldn't be able to sleep for a while after the injection so he set him up with a movie to watch in the living room and he went to his bedroom to get some sleep so that he could make up for lost work time in the morning.  Quickly, he drifted off to sleep.  It was a nightmare.

The Greater Number 3: The Simian Connection part 9

  All over the world, Sasquatch of all shapes, colors and sizes worked together to help rid the planet of the living dead.  Humanity, though not perfect, was capable of love.  The living dead were soulless and gave nothing while destroying everything in their paths.  There was no love or hate within the undead.  They merely killed and ate the flesh of human beings.  Humans, who were often destructive, nevertheless, were a part of Earth's ecology.  They did not deserve to die such meaningless and unnatural deaths.  The undead were an abomination.  Ironically, many of the Sasquatch had been called 'Abominable' by the humans.  The Sasquatch, being pure of heart, were not ones to hold a grudge.  In protecting humanity, they were protecting the planet.
  On top of having legendary big feet, they also have big hands.  They could palm an undead head like a basketball and remove it from undead shoulders like pulling weeds.  They could pull undead arms out of their sockets without the prerequisite loss of a chess game provocation.  They had strength, speed and agility on their side.  The undead were always the greater number.
  On occasion, a large group of the living dead was able to take down a Sasquatch, but he would usually take down a few of the dead with him even while they were ripping his flesh to shreds.  Fighting to the end is how they went out.  Not a single one died a coward.
  The Hand of Karma had grown in ranks to number in the thousands.  They had followed Hadji to Oregon.  They were expecting another improvised safe haven to lay siege to, but instead stood witness to a large scale war between creatures they had only read about in books and monsters they had only seen in nightmares.  What was the true prize to be won here?  Why had their leader brought them to this bloody battlefield?  He spoke of the evils of humanity, but not a single living human being was in sight.
  As the battle raged on all about them, many became fearful for their lives.  They were accustomed to having the upper hand in every situation.  Lately, their leader didn't seem to have any aim or direction.  It was every person for themselves.  Even with all the bloodshed going on, it was noticed that the large furry humanoids never attacked the living.  The living were very grateful for that.
  Once in Oregon, Hadji had his followers set up his usual podium and microphone.  He gave his usual spiel about how humanity was destroying this planet.  The only difference now was that no one was listening.  What humanity was he talking about?  All anyone could see were bigfoot and zombies.  His followers were the only living human beings to be seen anywhere.  That was about to change.
  One day, while Hadji was on his soap box, a man came with a microphone of his own.
  Darion brought the microphone to his mouth and addressed the crowd.  "Hand of Karma, I know you must be confused.  You were probably told that there was a military base full of people here for you to take your anger out on.  Where are those people?  I tell you, they are already dead.  The zombies took care of them days ago.  All you have here are and army of Sasquatch fighting a horde of the undead."
  Many from the crowd were nodding their heads.  This was what they were noticing.  This man seemed to know what he was talking about.
  Darion continued.  "Who I am is of no consequence.  I will tell you this, though.  This army of Sasquatch is fighting for you.  Up until now you have been fighting against an enemy that was not an enemy.  I will tell you who your true enemy is.  It is these hordes of the undead that you have been travelling with."
  He let that sink in for a moment and looked around at the crowd.  They seemed more scared than hateful or angry.  Most of them had probably lost friends and family to this cause they thought they were fighting for.  "I tell you now that some time tomorrow, the rays from a distant supernova will reach the earth.  The consequences of this will be that the zombies will become intelligent."
  He began to see fear in earnest in the eyes of a few at first, then more.  "Imagine with how dangerous they are as mindless, eating machines.  Now add to that a mind that can plan and make strategy.  How long do you think it will be before we are being bred like cattle?  They are the greater number."
  Darion could see that people were listening.  "While there are still friends and family out there, let us stand together.  While there is still love out there, let us fight together.  Let us unite against a soulless, flesh-hungry enemy who doesn't care if you are good or bad.  Who doesn't care if you go to church, get straight A's, pay your taxes or floss your teeth."
  Hadji in a rage, grabbed a sword and stood facing at Darion.  A nearby Sasquatch stopped its struggle with a zombie to see if he could help his king.  The zombie lurched over to where Hadji was holding the sword above his head.  It grabbed his arm and took a nice chunk out of his wrist, causing him to drop his sword.  Once Hadji had fallen to the ground in agony, the zombie crouched over him and ripped out his throat.
  The fake that they had been following was gone.  They had the same cause, but a new enemy to fight.  A cry rose up amongst the crowd.  Cheers arose and tears were shed.  Most already had weapons.  These very weapons had taken human lives.  They were used for this purpose no longer and were now utilized on the walking dead.  The fighting went well into the night.
  As the sun rose the next morning, there were not many undead left.  Battle weary, but proud from victory, the Sasquatch and the people destroyed what was left of the zombie masses.  Measures were taken to prevent another outbreak.  The Shangri helped in that effort, as well as in the rebuilding that took place in the wake of the worst destruction anyone had ever seen.
  Edger and Cyril Holts, Father Mucker and Liam Moor decided to move to Shangri La permanently.  Darion Morris, the 32nd king of Shangri La performed the ceremony to marry Julianne Davenport and Beau Ottoman.  All the bride's maids were blue.  A space craft whizzed them off to their honeymoon afterward.
  Yorren and his family moved back north to the Washington area.  Awoona is now pregnant again and Rahrah can't wait to have a brand new Sasquatch brother or sister!
  The Ng and Fen-Chang families moved back to Marble Cliffs, Arizona.  The first thing Hewlett did when he got back into town was to lay some flowers on the grave of Sierra Dophlet.

                                                                        THE END

The Greater Number 3: The Simian Connection part 8

  Mbu and Hewlett looked at the shiny spacecraft that had just landed in a clearing in the forest.  "Boy, where was this thing when Helen kept yammering on about how we were supposed to lead her to the heavens?  Now I've seen every...Holy Krizmak!  It's a blue guy!" exclaimed Mbu.
  Yorren stepped forward and greeted the Shangri that had flown Darion and the other humans to Oregon from Shangri La.  No one else on board the space craft was exiting.
  Father Ng called into the hovering shiny disc, "Father Fen-Chang.  There's someone out here I'm sure you'll be happy to see!"  Not even a fraction of a second elapsed before Father Fen-Chang stepped off the ramp and gave Hewlett a huge bear hug.  He greeted Father Ng and his family afterward.
  Cautiously, the rest of the humans got off the craft and there were introductions all around.
  Cyril walked up to Darion and looked him in the eye.  "The big guy over there is named Yorren.  He's the leader of a tribe of Sasquatch from this region.  He's asked me to talk to you."
  Darion looked from her to the Sasquatch and back to her.  "Sure, I'll talk to him."
  "Well, unless you speak Sasquatch, you'd best talk to me."
  "It's a long story, but I can hear him too.  No, I don't speak Sasquatch, but I understand his thoughts just as if they were my own."  Cyril shrugged and went to sit by her father.  Darion walked over to Yorren and communicated with him through his thoughts.
  "The girl said you wanted to talk to me," he opened with.
  "I am Yorren and I serve the king."
  "I appreciate that."
  "I have foot soldiers who tell me that the group of the dead is almost here.  Also, the man who leads them is on his way.  There are many humans with him."
  "You have an army?"
  "We are many and we serve the king."
  Darion knew that there would be fighting, but he recalled the words of Shwama Po.  He knew that there was a time for fighting and a time for loving.  He turned to Yorren.  "I need you to destroy the army of the dead.  Do not harm the humans."
  Yorren was able to communicate with his brave brothers and sisters around the world through his mind.  His orders were to kill the dead and leave the living unharmed.  With those words, began a massive worldwide ground battle between the Sasquatch and the hordes of the undead.
  The humans were led to the cave where they would be safe until the Hand of Karma arrived.

The Greater Number 3: The Simian Connection part 7

  On the third night, Darion wanted to know one thing: were there more than just two sixth days?  "Good evening, Alien Formerly Known As King."
  "Your majesty, this is the last night you will be here at Shangri La."
  "Oh yes, I remember.  Then it's off to defeat the bad guys."
  Shwama Po chuckled.  "But before you go, you must be properly armed."
  "Armed?!  What, you guys got a bunch of guns up in here?"
  "Knowledge is your first weapon.  You wanted to know if there were any other sixth days.  The answer to that is 'Not yet'.  As you may recall, on the first sixth day, my planet received intelligence.  On the second sixth day, your planet received intelligence.  Six days from now, the rays of a third supernova will reach us here.  What will happen then is that the zombies will gain intelligence."
  Darion's jaw dropped.  "An intelligent army of flesh-hungry undead.  My Lord."
  "These are very dark times.  There have been prophecies in every culture about this.  The third sixth day makes 666, the number of the beast.  It is also the number of man."
  "What can we do?"
  "As I said earlier, knowledge is your first weapon.  Now that you know, you must arm yourself fully.  Have you figured out the riddle of the gate?"
  "You mean the 'Love is all good people need'?  How does that help?"
  "Do you notice anything that seems to rankle or irk you about that statement?"
  Darion wrung his hands.  "I don't know.  The word 'good' in there seems to be a judgment, whereas true love is unconditional."
  "Your on the right track."
  "So what it should say is 'Love is all people need'."
  "And why is that?"
  "Because we are all equal in the eyes of God.  We are all one."
  "You have answered the riddle."
  "We are all one is the answer?  And now I'm ready to fight zombies?  And Hadji?  And Hand of Karma?"
  "If fighting will bring about love, then fight.  If loving will bring about love, then love."
  The next day, Darion, Father Fen-Chang, Father Mucker, Julianne, Beau and Liam got ready to travel to America where they would face off against the Hand of Karma.  The Shangri led them to what looked like a hangar for an airplane.  In the center of the hangar was a large silver disc.
  Liam tugged on Darion's sleeve.  "Your royaltiness.  That looks like a UFO to me."
  Darion turned to Liam.  "Yes, I had noticed that.  I guess since these are aliens from another planet, the assumption is that they had to get here somehow.  Most likely, it was not on foot, so this transportation we see before us seems the logical deduction."
  Liam let go of his sleeve.  "A simple 'No duh' would have sufficed."
  Darion led the procession up the on ramp to board the space craft.  The seats were spacious and comfy.  Inertial dampers kept them from feeling the movement of the flight.  Before they knew it, the doors opened up to reveal a forest in southern Oregon.  There was a welcoming committee there to greet them as well.

The Greater Number 3: The Simian Connection part 6

  "So you brought us here?" asked Hewlett.
  "No, in a way, you brought me here," intoned Cyril, acting as a translator between Sasquatch and human.
  "I was just trying to escape Hadji and the Hand of Karma."
  "He is not our greatest enemy right now."  Boy that was a hell of a bombshell to drop at this point in the game.  No one spoke for a while.
  Finally, after the news had some time to sink in, Father Ng asked, "So if Hadji isn't our greatest enemy right now, who is?  Why haven't we heard of any additional threat?"
  "I will tell you in good time.  For now, let me tell you about Hadji.  He has lost his lover and his daughter, but he has not properly grieved for them.  Grieving is a process with several stages.  He has not gotten past the stage of anger.  It is this anger which has attracted many other people who, for whatever reason, have a lot of anger in themselves as well.  He has been leading them like a pack.  The people follow him because he allows them to finally express their pent-up anger.  Zombies don't hate, they're just hungry.  The zombies follow him because he leads them to fresh meat."
  "If zombies don't hate, why do they always put on their mean mug when they're attacking?" asked Mbu.
  Cyril continued the story that Rahrah was relating to the group as if she hadn't heard Mbu's little remark.  "You see, so far, Hadji has been acting in the interest of his pack.  But recently, he has led the Hand of Karma into battles with my kind.  What you call, Sasquatch.  And we are quite adept and defeating them with our superior strength and agility."  Hewlett and Mbu high-fived each other.
  "What this is beginning to show the Hand of Karma is that Hadji is no longer acting in their best interests.  Perhaps he never was.  When they see that, they will stop following him.  These people are merely looking for relevance in this world.  They want an identity that is not solely based on negatives.  They will not find that through him.  There are only two emotions: love and fear.  Everything else is just an offshoot of one of those along a spectrum."
  "Hadji's anger is just his fear," interjected Enma.
  Cyril turned to face Enma.  "Yes.  Love and hate are both choices.  Affection, romance, infatuation are all emotions which will eventually pass. That's why love can be forever because our choices are the only things that change destiny."
  "So what's this greater enemy that you spoke of?" asked Father Ng.
  "There has been a supernova years before in a system very distant.  Its rays will be reaching us soon.  I can't explain to you how, but that will bring with it the power to give intelligence to the zombies."

The Greater Number 3: The Simian Connection part 5

  All day, Darion was seeing little shadows all over the place.  He also saw figures that were more humanoid in form, yet not quite human.  He took some time to fall asleep that night because he kept jumping at every shadow.  Eventually, when sleep did come, Shwama Po returned, just as Darion hoped he would.  He had some questions for the former king of Shangri La.
  "Mr. king, I've been wondering something," Darion came out with.
  "I am no longer king, you are.  With what have you been laden?"
  "Well, I've been seeing all kinds of shadows and shapes all day.  Is that just a part of the Shangri La experience?  The others don't seem to see what I see, so I guess not, but what's up?"
  "That is a part of the Guardian Heart experience.  You are now connected to the world of the wild.  The shadows you see are the spirits of members of your family."
  "My family?  My parents are both still alive.  Who are you talking about?"
  "Think on the larger scale.  Cro Magnon, Neanderthal, chimpanzee, Sasquatch, yeti."
  "Well I'll be a monkey's uncle.  I'm seeing cave man ghosts?  Bigfoot?  How come I never saw that stuff before?  What does this heart transplant have to do with this?"
  "Most humans do not see the spirits of the wild.  After childhood, most are pure enough of heart.  You have literally become more pure of heart with this transplant."
  "What do you mean pure?"
  "I mean in touch with the spirit world, like humans were before they gained intelligence.  As primates you were more pure of spirit and sensitive to the world of spirit and the divine, the unseen world. You've lost that because your minds took over in importance and messed up your priorities. You've lost touch with your hearts in favor of logic and reason.  This is not a judgment, but an observation."

  "Well, it sounds like a judgment to me!  You're saying that humans as a species are screwed up."
  "You do have much more in common with your simian counterparts than you may know.  After all, you were just like them before the second sixth day."
  "Yeah, I knew there'd be more to the story once you started talking about the first sixth day last night."
  "There's much more to the story than you know.  The second sixth day was when God gave intelligence to the Cro Magnon man.  A distant star had gone supernova and the effects on Earth were two-fold.  The first, as I said, was a rapid evolution of the human mind.  That is why a 'missing link' has never been found between the more primitive Neanderthals."
  "Whoa, so the first people, Adam and Eve, were cavemen?"
  "So to speak.  They did live in caves, but they weren't the first people in the way you may be thinking.  More accurately, they were the last."
  "You're floggin' my noggin!" exclaimed Darion.
  "I didn't mean to.  Is that a bad thing?  Anyway, as I said, the effects of the supernova were two-fold.  The second effect was that a disease that had affected the Neanderthals also mutated."
  "Disease?  What disease?" asked Darion.
  "Are you familiar with prions?"  Shwama Po answered Darion's question with a question of his own.
  "Uh yeah, like mad cow disease and stuff, right?"
  "There was an ice age coming and the Neanderthals had started to resort to cannibalism due to a lack of food sources.  This cannibalism led to a disease similar to Kuru.  Over in the eastern highlands of Papua, New Guinea, there was a tribe not too long ago who had a custom of showing respect for deceased family members by eating them.  This transmitted the disease from the organs and the flesh into the eaters."
  "Yeah, I heard about that.  So that's a prion disease?"
  "Yes.  Kuru means 'trembling with fear' in the language of the Fore people.  You see, trembling is a symptom of dying brain tissue.  Other symptoms include loss of balance, disrupted coordination, blindness and dementia.  The supernova caused the prion disease to mutate in such a way that the symptoms were more extreme and could be transmitted through bodily fluid. The victims became demented and bit others, spreading the disease at an alarming rate and wiping out the entire Neanderthal race quickly."
  "What's that got to do with Adam and Eve?"
  "I'm getting to that.  The Neanderthals were quickly wiping themselves out.  In a blind dementia-fueled rage, some of them even bit woolly mammoths.  Prion diseases, as you may know, generally do not transmit between species.  A bitten mammoth would become a nidus.  It could spread the disease, but not show any of the symptoms of it.  The newly intelligent Cro Magnon people were catching the disease by eating mammoth meat.  By the time they figured that out, there were not many left to carry on the species.  At the end there were only two who survived."

  "Adam and Eve," concluded Darion.
  "They had been living in Africa, but after that, they left to seek out new lands.  The ice age wiped out the rest of the Neanderthals.  Adam and Eve went on to propagate the human race as you know it now."

The Greater Number 3: The Simian Connection part 4

  The Centimator reached an area of the forest where a large rock formation stood, fairly hidden by dense foliage.  At the foot of the formation was an opening to a cave, partially obscured by hanging vines.  Father Ng stopped the vehicle and Yorren climbed down from the turret.
  "He wants us to wait here while he talks to his family," explained Cyril.  Yorren entered the cave and for a moment, the forest seemed suddenly lonely and foreboding.  When he was with them, they felt safer because he could kick some serious zombie buttocks!  The ominous tension in the air reminded Mbu of being six years old and listening to "Daddy" preach about fire and brimstone where you'd burn forever if you were bad.
  Forever was cut short when Yorren re-emerged from the cave.  He wasn't alone.  He had another adult Sasquatch with him and what looked to be a bigfoot child, both with lighter colored fur than Yorren.
  Cyril got out of the vehicle and turned to the group who was also starting to exit the cramped quarters of the Centimator.  "This is Awoona, Yorren's wife.  And this little girl here is Rahrah, their daughter."  The bigfoot family then entered the cave.  "They would like for you to come inside their home."
  "Is that like a phone booth that looks bigger on the outside than it really is on the inside, cuz I don't think we're all gonna fit into that little thang," jabbered Mbu.
  "I'm sorry, could you please phrase your questions in the form of questions?" ribbed Hewlett while bravely being the first to step inside the bigfoot abode.
  They had to walk down an incline because the opening led into a massive underground cavern.  "Holy banana schmacks!" exclaimed Mbu, still not making much sense, yet somehow giving voice to the very sentiment they were all feeling at the time.  Then they saw it.
  "Great googully moogully!"  Mbu's outburst repertoire was inundated with inanities.  But in this case, it was justified.  On one of the larger flat surfaces of the cave wall was a cave painting.  It clearly depicted an armed vehicle surrounded with humanoid figures.  There was a larger humanoid figure with its arms up in the air in a threatening gesture.  To everyone there, it looked like the the scene that had played out just hours before when the Centimator had been surrounded by zombies and Yorren came to the rescue.
  "Alright, animal whispering girl, time to spill the beans," said Hewlett.  All eyes fell to Cyril.
  Cyril blushed lightly, but turned to the group.  "Rahrah is asking Hewlett if he remembers Sierra Dophlet."
  "The uh, hospital.  The uh, girl."  The jibber jabber bug was apparently contagious.
  "Yeah, she's saying the girl, not the hospital.  She's saying that before this lifetime, she spent a lifetime in the body of a human girl named Sierra Dophlet."
  "You're talking reincarnation from a human to a Sasquatch?!" asked Hewlett incredulously.
  "I ain't saying shit.  I'm just the messenger.  She's saying she knew you were coming."
  Hewlett shuffled his feet a little bit and fumbled his fingers together.  "Well, I did have a dream about Sierra Dophlet when Mbu and me spent the night in Marble Cliffs."
  "She reached out to you then and the two of you made a connection," said Cyril.
  "Yeah, we did," sighed Hewlett.
  "This family of Sasquatch lived up in Washington at the time, but they moved down here to Oregon when she knew you were coming here.  She drew the cave mural to tell her father how he would find us.

The Greater Number 3: The Simian Connection part 3

  That night, as Darion slept, the spirit of Shwama Po visited him in his dreams.  He had died before he could impart all his wisdom to the 32nd king of Shangri La.  His appearance is what is known as a crisis apparition. His work was not done and he returned to tie up loose ends.
  Darion looked upon the deceased 31st king of Shangri La and wept.  "Why did you make me your king? I'm a doctor.  That's insufficient experience to be a royal majesty."
  The spirit of the dead king was able to stand since spirits do not suffer as the flesh suffers.  He clasped Darion's hand in his.  "Your Highness, you will stay here for three nights.  I shall help you by imparting my meager wisdom and knowledge, but you must come up with the answer."
  "The answer.  What answer?"
  "When you came into the gates of this city, what was written on the gate?"
  Darion closed his eyes in concentration to try and visualize the inscription on the gate.  "Uh, yeah.  I remember.  It said, 'Love is all good people need'."
  Shwama Po looked pleased.  "Good remembering, your majesty.  And by the end of your third night here, you will know the answer.  Then you will lead a mighty host against he who calls himself, Hadji."
  Darion snatched back his hand and chewed on the skin on his index finger.  It was a nervous habit from childhood.  "I'm gonna what?  I'm a doctor, not a super hero!"
  Shwama put his hand on Darion's shoulder.  "First I will give you knowledge, then I will share with you my wisdom, then we will see how heroic you can be.  Before anything else, you need a little history lesson."
  Darion rolled his eyes.  "Great.  I always sucked at History.  That's why I became a doctor.  I am a man of science.  If I can't see it with my eyes, I can't know it for sure."
  "Don't worry, as a scientist, I think you will appreciate what I am about to tell you.  Lots of science."
  "Oh good.  You were beginning to scare me with all that History talk."
  "Are you familiar with the story of the sixth day of creation?"
  "You mean from the Bible when God created Adam and Eve?"
  "That is the incident of which I speak.  Did you know that it was not the first sixth day?"
  Darion sat down.  "You got me there, partner.  You got some serious 'splainin' to do."
  "Well, you must know that in the creation of life, intelligence is always created on the sixth day."
  "Okay, but let's get back to the Bible not being the first sixth day."
  "Yes.  The first sixth day happened when life was created on my planet."
  Darion straightened up in his chair.  "Aha, I knew it!  Y'all are aliens.  You got your blue skin and those holes in the backs of your necks."
  "Yes, we are what your dolphins used to be.  But that's not the story I'm telling right now.  I'm telling you the story of how we were given intelligence.  God's chosen instrument of intelligence bearing is supernovas."
  "The science of which completely eludes me, but go ahead."
  "Humans have not figured out all of God's tricks.  But anyway, there was a supernova which brought with it the necessary ingredients for intelligence."
  "Now you just hold on a minute.  You said this was the sixth day.  How could there be a supernova?  A star lives millions, if not billions of years before it goes supernova."
  "Time doesn't work the same way in the spirit world as it does on the physical plane.  To God, a day could be a thousand years.  Here, time is linear.  On the Other Side, it's more circular, if you can grasp that."
  "Ehhh.  Just keep going with your story, please.  I wanna hear this."
  "So we, the Shangri were given the breath of life.  And that is all I will tell you tonight."
  "Holy crap, man.  There's more?"  Darion woke up and shared breakfast with his fellow human survivors.  All day, he thought about the things he had learned, wondering where this history lesson was heading.