Gravewalkers: Bitter Morsel

By Richard T. Schrader

The story begins three hundred years after an unfortunate archeological discovery has unleashed a rage-virus plague outbreak that transformed the population of the Earth into infectious ghouls. These zombie-minded 'infected' hunt and kill natural humans on sight. In this future, the last remnants of mankind survive in orbital space aboard their ultra-secure technological habitats. Even with their superior science and hard won experience, mysterious accidents and inexplicable disasters continue to thwart humanity’s attempts to restore a permanent foothold on their now hopelessly conquered and quarantined murder plague planet.

The main character, Captain Critias of the Marshal Service’s Virgil Ludus, and his combat android Carmen, they adventure on the front lines of this conflict. Critias discovers a closely-guarded secret, that among the feral-brained filthy ghouls are intelligent asymptomatic carriers known as Watchers. These cunning immortals have been the source of many unsolved calamities. They do whatever is necessary to ensure that men never retake their conquered planet. Hidden in the impenetrable reforested wilds of Earth’s ruins are thousands of these ancient immortal ghouls that still retain their former human intelligence. They jealously defend their world against humans that have become unwelcome interlopers.

Mankind only narrowly dodged extinction because of the fabled leadership of their legendary King Louie, the man that first united the last tribal holdouts of human survivors during the first few years after the outbreak began.

Critias and Carmen, monster fighting super cops from the future, encounter a prodigy physicist that opens a quantum teleportation portal into the King Louie past. They travel back nearly 300 years to experience the Dying Time era, about forty months after first infection. Critias and Carmen join the great King Louie and his huge world of heroic characters. In the past, they will find the answer that ends the ghouls and allows mankind to finally reclaim the Earth. Along the way, both discover the real wealth in humanity that makes it worth saving, Critias from the perspective of the system regimented man, and Carmen from the vain ambitions of science becoming a rival to god.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Richard T. Schrader
• Release date: Dec 14, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310125836

Richard T. Schrader

Suicide Squad 2 and Peacemaker are adaptions of characters from Gravewalkers.The helmets from before are stolen from here. If you liked the show you will love this.Audiobook versions with subtitles are available on Youtube. I will eventually have all 12.For those of you who felt something for my characters, especially my beloved and misunderstood autistic sidekick, that means a lot to me. I wish I could have gotten out of this permanent shadowban through some way other than plagiarism.It's ok that you were only curious. This is a video world now.@RichardTSchrad1 Twitter

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Gravewalkers

Book Eight

Bitter Morsel

Richard T. Schrader

Copyright © 2013 Richard T. Schrader

Copyright © 2022 Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved.

Contents

Rice and Treacle

Bell Tolls

Rage Amongst Angels

Dove and the Phoenix

Higher Path

Lighthouse

The Sixth City

Prestige

Sinners and Saints

The Wall

Abashing Devils

Chapter 1: Rice and Treacle

Yeti shouted over at one of the pirates for being lazy, Get to work or the others will be dragging your body next!

Critias had brought nine of the pirate prisoners out to the East Airport with them to do cleanup work. Eight of the slaves dragged headshot infected off the pavement in front of the airport garage.

Jude the pirate had some talent as a mechanic, winning her the privilege to do real work inside the building as she helped retrofit new vehicles.

The eight menial pirates made piles of corpses for future destruction.

Since ghouls periodically rushed out of the three meter high prairie grass to attack them, those pirates glanced about with worry more than they did their actual labor, which is why Yeti yelled at them.

The scolding served double duty since Yeti’s raised voice only increased the likelihood that some infected would hear him and then come around to find the pirates to attack them. It was in the pirates’ best interest to work harder if they wanted to be safer.

Polat asked Critias, So what do you think?

Give me a moment, Critias tried to calm the man’s impatience. One cannot decide these things quickly.

When another ghoul emerged from the long grass and then made a rush at the pirates as they labored, the creature let out a high pitched shriek because Critias shot off its nose with a bullet from Polat’s Shipka maschinenpistole.

The weapon had an unusual modification where the trigger was a thumb toggle located on the left side of the trigger guard. The design of the Shipka didn’t favor an outright removal of the trigger guard so that an operator could fire the weapon while he wore heavily armored gloves. The alternative thumb press took some practice for Critias to be comfortable with it.

Polat sounded truly impressed, Nice shot! That Critias took the nose off a ghoul as it ran in the distance was a masterful display of skill by any standard.

That ghoul still rushed toward the pirates and those condemned laborers started to panic since the infected was nearly upon them.

Critias honestly repined, I think it pulls to the left. He had aimed for the ghoul’s brain. When he fired again, his next bullet hit the ghoul in the side of the head. That killing blow caused the ghoul to spill down at the feet of the terrified pirates, skidding to a stop on its now bloody face.

The East Airport hangar-garage was a hive of activity. Some of the workers nearly finished unloading the last of the power cable spool shipment from the transport truck. At the same time, a swarm of mechanics busied themselves retrofitting new Forager vehicles.

The builder teams installed components for the new electrical system. Using that cable and other gear, they would bring in power from Doctor Kine’s atomic generator that was underneath the air traffic control tower.

Among other mandatory essentials like powering the mechanics’ welding machines, tools, and the lights, the electricity would provide them with air conditioning for the sleeping areas. They would also have refrigeration for their food supplies and a walk-in freezer to store whole carcasses of hunted meat. Derek’s construction teams were currently getting all of that operational.

In addition to all the skilled workers, the East Airport also had the requisite G&P squads to watch over everyone else.

Decontamination teams were both keeping the mess contained and also setting up their permanent onsite equipment, like washing machines, clothes dryers, and infection killing microwave ovens, that once again needed the new electricity service.

In total, it was a well-oiled machine of useful progress, the kind of operation King Louie was known for turning out against a hostile world.

I hear the helicopter, Critias told Polat a moment before he headshot another ghoul that dashed out from the grass to bite a pirate.

His accuracy with the Shipka improved with practice, though it still pulled a little to the left because of the unusual trigger modification. Critias thought it might be that his grip was rolling the pistol into his thumb rather than his thumb doing all the work.

Polat looked around the sky unable to hear or see anything, Are you sure?

Critias’ mechsuit had enhanced hearing. It took longer for the sound to grow enough for human ears to pick it up.

Yeah, Polat confirmed it. I hear it now.

The Seahawk approached from the north and one of the smaller grinders hung beneath it on a cargo-lift cable. Though smaller, the grinder was still the size of a car.

When Polat saw the helicopter, he commented, Your wife is the most talented woman I have ever seen or even heard of for that matter. Is there anything that she doesn’t do well?

Critias replied, The only talents she lacks are staying content, shutting her mouth, and fearing ridiculous machinery.

He looked at the helicopter with his telescopic vision, Have you ever seen a more preposterous piece of convoluted shit? That thing looks like the bastard child of a cabbage slicer and a microbus.

Polat didn’t understand, You mean the helicopter? That is a magnificent machine. Fleet Admiral Rudel would be sorry to hear that you’re so disappointed.

Critias explained himself, "Have you ever taken the time to just look at that monstrosity? I wouldn’t even believe it could fly if I didn’t already know better. If there is another machine in this world more unnatural and less elegant than that crazy thing, I would like you to tell me what it is.

Now that you mention it, Polat saw what he meant. The helicopter isn’t what I would call inspired by nature. Planes are like birds and submarines are like fish. It is a statement on the ingenuity of man though.

That’s probably what Carmen likes about it, Critias guessed. If we found a clock that was the size of a house and powered by monkeys with explosives, Carmen would want to take it home to know when it was time for lunch.

The Seahawk came over in a hover and then lowered the grinder to the ground nearby. Once the cargo was down, the helicopter jettisoned the lift cable and then landed near their planes.

No ghouls rushed out of the grass in pursuit of the flying machine. Everyone had stood ready for a major attack, which didn’t come. Perhaps the infected couldn’t keep track of it or they didn’t see it as a sign of food. There was no way to be sure what the ghouls made of it.

Carmen and Commander Carys exited the Seahawk along with Fat Jack who came along for the ride.

As Jack emerged from the side door, he pulled Kenny along in handcuffs drawn by his leash.

Carmen removed her flight helmet and then shook loose her hair as she walked over with sultry panache. She was all smiles over the great fun of the new flying machine. Carmen was mindful that Critias watched, and Polat too, so she couldn’t help but enjoy the opportunity to make the cool sexy style walk away from the King’s new super toy.

Meaning about the Seahawk, Carmen asked Critias rhetorically, Isn’t it wonderful? You could use it for a rescue transport like you would a gunship.

Here they come, Polat warned everyone as a pack of six ghouls came out of the grass from the north to pursue the helicopter that they had heard fly overhead.

The Seahawk had followed over the track of forest as closely as possible to obscure the view of it from the ground, but nothing had disguised all the noise that it had made.

Polat had Critias’ teslaflux pistol that he fired from a two-handed grip with notable talent. The man was a practiced marksman even with an unfamiliar weapon. Captain Serkan cut them all down in rapid succession with one bullet each.

The Turk told Critias, I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s really quite extraordinary. I can see why you like it so much. The recoil is still noticeable, but it comes straight back into your arm in a way that every weapon should.

Carmen asked in barely concealed shock, You let him handle your pistol? On some level, she and the pistol were the same thing, not to be handled by anyone else.

Unconcerned, Critias replied, Why not? Just because he loves something of mine, I trust him not to steal it. Are you saying I should worry that he plans on taking what I value most?

She understood that Critias spoke of her as what he valued most, not his pistol. After his terrible dream about the dismemberment of Seven-snakes, Critias had told her that losing her would be losing what he valued most.

Carmen answered hurriedly, Polat is a complete gentleman. He would never do anything like that.

She caught herself over the familiarity, I mean, Captain Serkan.

Critias traded weapons with Polat to give him his Shipka back, We seem to have similar tastes in the finer things. From now on, I need to remove the stock from that 10mm maschinenpistole fünf that I like. I much prefer a maschinenpistole configured for onehanded use.

Borz drove out from the garage in a ten-wheeled monstrosity of a truck. It had originally been a six-thousand gallon waste oil recovery vehicle. The painted company emblem on each side of the long storage tank still clearly attested to its heritage. That huge vehicle had newly added solid waste sludge pumps that could expel masticated ghoul paste as required.

The welders had added armor to the truck’s cab and installed an elaborate air-filtration system to keep the driver’s compartment refreshed with clean atmosphere. That was a reasonable precaution against the aerosol of infected blood that a towed tub grinder would generate when in operation.

The tub grinder that just came in by helicopter had a whole new look since the time that Critias had taken it from the mulching company yard along the river.

Jim’s mechanics had modified the machine to devour ghouls and then store them as liquefied filth. Its undercarriage had larger wheels on stronger axles. A new containment tank acted as the metal belly that held what it ate until the sludge pumps vomited the contents into the storage truck through a sewage hose.

An attachment served as a conveyor belt apparatus akin to an escalator with buckets instead of stairs. The conveyor had its own drive engine that propelled its repetitious motion.

When the conveyor operated in service, it would carry headshot bodies into the mouth of the feed tub for their orderly disposal. It would also make for an inviting route of access for any active ghouls that attacked the machine of their own accord.

The scandalous feature that abased the sepulchral tub grinder was the small circular platform that stood above the center of the tub on a pyramid of three welded pipe legs.

The deck was only large enough to accommodate one upright person. It was a crow’s nest of sorts that completely exposed its occupant to sight and danger. Only a circular handrail at waist height would help prevent the occupant from falling off.

The builders had painted the whole machine in purple and then written the name Flying Purple in white on the flat sides of the main engine compartment.

After Borz positioned the truck that would tow the grinder, a team of mechanics started to connect the two together for an official test of the equipment.

Critias asked Carmen, What does the name mean? Does it have something to do with you?

She shook her head no, Flying Purple People Eater is from a novelty song written half a century ago. As I understand it, it was a creature that ate purple people not a purple creature that ate people, but the associations here seem obvious enough.

He was curious about her take on the machine, Do you think it will work? That truck seems big enough. How many would it hold?

I think it will hold close to three hundred, she estimated. I’m sure it is going to work. It is also going to be an equally effective contamination spreader. The particles that grinder will be flinging about will be too small to be self-sustaining. The minute matter will break down once it dries out. In the short term, you won’t want to be close enough to the machine to be breathing it in or getting it on you.

He could hardly believe it, Only three-hundred?

Carmen nodded yes as if it should be self-explanatory, That is why this kind of process is so grossly inefficient. As a general rule, destroying ghouls causes more problems than it solves. At least while they are still walking around, a final solution is a future hope. When you mash them down into the soil and water, the eventual cleanup becomes an infinitely more difficult decontamination problem.

Jim was at least wise enough to realize the absolute necessity of totally destroying the ones we do this to, though I think they will come to find that burning them is not the way to go about it. Grinding up ghouls will serve its purpose for our short term needs, but this is never going to be a reasonable method of restoring the Earth to a natural ecosystem.

Critias noticed, All that splatter sounds like bad news for Kenny and the pirates who will be loading in bodies. What do you think their life expectancy will be?

Carmen evaluated, If they wear the proper protective gear and have the good sense not to remove it prematurely, I think they will be in no real danger. If they make any mistakes, it is the equivalent of suicide.

Our major concerns are where they will be dumping the product and that we only operate the grinder in locations where none of us are standing downwind.

A field decontamination team brought out a cart of hazmat suits. They would dress Kenny and the pirates in high level protection that included full face coverage, goggles, and respirators. It was another hot summer day. The work would be brutal even if they survived it.

George’s new crewmember Handsome Claude proved that he could drive with sufficiently capable talent. He approached the garage in an airport crash-tender firetruck that moved at high speed. It was an impressive eight-wheeled vehicle of great size and horsepower that was equally capable of off-road travel. The machine had its own water tank and an automated directional hose nozzle mounted over the cab.

We’re ready to get this going, Jack said because George and Malcolm had arrived with the firetruck that they needed for safety.

Jack gestured westward, A mile up at the end of the runways is a good spot for us to get a burn pit started. It’s a circular patch of grass surrounded by pavement all the way around. Once we burn the grass down, it will be just meat and kerosene, nothing that can blow around in the wind. We will have the firetruck ready just in case we start a wildfire.

Critias asked Jack, What is the overall plan here?

I’m going to the little test burn site with George to light the grass, Jack detailed the objectives. Captain Borz is going to start a slow icecream truck drive down to the dirigible hangar and then back again, to get the storage tank on the truck filled up. From there, we will just sort of see how this goes.

In a couple of hours, we will start rolling out the power cable to get electricity to the garage. Since you have the best environmental protection suit possible, I want you to ride along in Borz’s truck just in case he gets himself into too much trouble.

We will be giving Kenny a wooden pole that he can use to poke at the ghouls in case they are not falling into the tub like we expect.

The workers got Kenny dressed and then up on his platform over the grinder tub. He had a safety line attached to a belt that he clipped onto his platform. If he happened to slip, Kenny still wouldn’t fall into the machine.

One of the workers used axle grease and a brush to lube up the mouth of the tub and the pipes that supported Kenny’s platform. She made it all especially slippery. That lubrication was supposed to prevent the ghouls from being able to climb around effectively. If it worked, the grease would make them lose their grip and then fall into the hammermill that would gobble them up.

Once that was complete, they armed Kenny with an old wooden canoe oar that he could use to protect himself, at least in theory.

Jack left in the firetruck with George’s crew. They would start the business with the test burn pit.

Critias called to Borz by radio, Drive out across the lot to where the pirates stacked those bodies. When you get there, go ahead and start her up. I’ll give you a few minutes to test the machinery and then I’ll bring out the slaves to start feeding in the bodies. I want to clean up our living space before giving any attention to the airbase.

Everyone else got indoors and then closed up the garage in case anything bad happened.

Carmen waited outside with Critias to watch the performance. The cleanup crew of pirates was there with them. None of the pirates was of a mood to run off since they didn’t have anywhere to go. They wouldn’t last long in the wilds before ghouls found them and then killed them.

They also had a healthy fear of Critias and Carmen. Even while they outnumbered their nearby captors, they had no confidence in the thought to overpower them and then seize their weapons.

Borz had video monitors inside the cab of his truck. He could watch the tub grinder by rear mounted cameras. Glass faced boxes with little wipers and spray jets encased the cameras. They self-cleaned like on a windshield.

He started a slow drive out away from the garage and then remotely started the engine on the tub grinder.

The machine was plenty loud to attract attention and sufficiently intimidated Kenny that he held onto his perch with dread. It would be some time before he stopped thinking about the possibility that he might slip down into the maw of the machine. His greater fear of the infected would help him get his priorities in line, but they would need to attack him for that to happen.

The first ghouls homed in on the sound of the machinery. When they emerged from the long grass to discover the source, they readily noticed Kenny’s bright yellow hazmat suit, which made him easy to see. Kenny’s entirely genuine cringe of terror revealed him as a human target of interest.

Borz sped up his truck to reach the body pile before the infected overtook him at a sprint. Once Borz was on site, he turned off the engine of his truck and then just sat back to enjoy the show.

The tub grinder had steel ladders that the builders had welded onto either side. They openly invited ghouls to climb the machine and in that way assist in their own destruction.

Borz also switched on the conveyor escalator, both to make certain that it actually worked and also just in case any ghouls wanted to try to climb up after Kenny from there.

Kenny made practice swings with his paddle as he watched seven infected close on him. The creatures readily recognized his display of desperation as being a distinctly human behavior, which only encouraged them to attack.

The first ghoul that went up a ladder promptly slipped over the lip of the tub and then went headfirst down into the grinder’s hammermill apparatus. The stringy nature of his meat spun up in the rotating mechanism of the mulching jaws such that the Flying Purple slurped the creature right in like an errant strand of spaghetti.

As the flung up blood peppered Kenny’s yellow costume, Carmen cringed at the sight, I thought as much.

The engine made a subtle but discernible change in sound when under the load of eating flesh. The ghoul itself hadn’t screamed at all since it had entered the machine headfirst. The intermeshed swing hammers minced that hapless creature on contact.

The second and third infected died in just the same way. The fourth managed to jump at Kenny only to slip right off the greasy pipes of his platform to fall into the tub of doom just like the others.

Because the process seemed to work so well, Borz switched on the rotating red emergency light that was atop the center pole of Kenny’s platform. He wanted to give ghouls in the distance some extra incentive to come explore the trap. Borz also tested the sludge pumps that transferred the grinder’s storage vat of liquefied people into the much larger reservoir on his truck.

Over the next five minutes, another twenty-five infected approached the flashing light and noisy engine of the tub grinder. They each invariably made an attack run on Kenny and then joined the others before them as repulsive ghoul soup in the bowels of the machinery.

The design of the grinder proved to be effective. Ghouls had no comprehension whatsoever of the danger it posed to them nor could they resist the temptation of trying to eat Kenny. The only potential flaw aside from the machine breaking down was that eventually one of the ghouls would actually succeed in making its way onto Kenny’s platform. If that did occur, it would be up to Kenny to defend his position by batting the creature down with his boat oar.

Borz radioed to Critias, It is working. You will definitely need trains for this. My storage is filling fast.

Critias told him, Let’s forget about the downed bodies for now then. Save enough room in the tank to collect any freaks we run into on the way to unload where Jack is. That fire of his is going to draw him plenty of trouble. We should get out there to vacuum them up. Critias could already see the column of smoke as it rose up from the new burn site.

Jack had lit a fire on the upwind side of the grassy circle he had chosen. The flames quickly swept across the little field that was about fifty meters in diameter.

George used the water sprayer on his firetruck to wet down the runway on the downwind side to prevent any embers from blowing across to spread the fire to anywhere else. The grass flashed over quickly as a wall of searing flame that almost instantly consumed all its fuel and then sputtered down to a smoking black patch of wasteland.

Critias told Carmen, Stay with the pirates and find them something to do. He walked out to join Borz in the truck.

Before he got too far away, Critias stopped and then looked back to give her one more instruction, If they try anything, be sure to take them alive. As punishment, we can hang them from the ceiling by screwing wires into their faces.

When Carmen glanced over to see if the pirates would be any sort of problem for her, they all backed away a few steps and many of them shook their heads no to show they didn’t want any trouble.

They will play nice, Carmen told him. Don’t worry about me. I think Hatchet impressed upon them the importance of hard work and good manners.

Borz drove Critias down the runway to check out Jack’s burn site. He honked the truck’s horn every so often to encourage a steady flow of ghouls to come out of the grass in order to keep the grinder fed.

They arrived to find that the smoke from the burnt grass had called in about fifty infected. The ghouls liked fires because they tended to drive out or cook to death various small edible creatures upon which they could feast.

Those infected had discovered the firetruck instead. They had surrounded it where they made a considerable ruckus about their desire to eat the occupants.

Jack with George and his crew just sat parked in their truck as they ignored them since the ghouls had no chance of getting into the vehicle or harming the massive truck in any way.

That large gathering of infected offered a prime opportunity for Borz to explore the hazards of a mass assault on the tub grinder. When Borz pulled up and then stopped, the ghouls caught sight of Kenny.

They rushed him as a mob to pull him down and then devour him. It only took a moment for the hostile creatures to besiege the grinder from all sides at once. So many of them toppled into the tub at the same time that the machine couldn’t chew them up fast enough to stop the topmost ghouls as they climbed over their dying comrades.

Kenny frantically swatted at them with his boat oar to forestall them as they tried to grab ahold of him.

The hammermill chewed up the bottommost victims. Those ghouls that climbed over the top sank down feet first into the tub as if in quicksand. Infected thought it was an unpleasant sensation when the machine started to grind off their feet and lower legs. The foot massage really sent those ghouls into a wild desperation of agonized screams while they pulled at their neighbors to try and free themselves.

Since the only thing that the dying ghouls could grab onto were other ghouls, they pulled in their comrades to join them in the Hell of teeth that ate them alive, which was somewhat ironic for ghouls who had a lifestyle of doing that to others.

Kenny stayed alive long enough for him to climb up the center mast pole that supported the rotating red light above him. He stood on his guardrail to get himself that much higher out of reach. His desperation to escape combined with his tongueless terrified yelping made the infected even more motivated to get their hands on him.

As the outrageous scene played out on the video monitor in the truck’s cab, Borz couldn’t help but laugh boisterously at the utterly inhuman madness that took place. He ground dozens of hideously shrieking people into sausage meat while he used a frightened and helpless victim as the bait. Even in a mad world, it wasn’t the kind of thing a person would see on any regular day.

Borz raised a lever on his control panel to shift the tub grinder’s engine to full throttle. It proved to be a helpful decision because the hammermill sucked down its ghouls considerably more efficiently.

As they watched the video screen, ghouls simply vanished while more climbed in until eventually there were none at all.

Critias had killed more than his share of infected during his career, but even he felt struck by the strange absurdity of the way the creatures just seemed to disappear rather than litter the landscape with their disabled bodies.

The only evidence that the ghouls had existed at all was the blood that soaked Kenny’s hazmat suit and there wasn’t even very much of that. The hammermill couldn’t manage to throw blood into the air while the tub was completely full of bodies that flailed, screamed, and struggled. It was only when the drum was nearly empty that the gore flung up readily.

Maybe it would be better if we keep moving when so many, Borz thought aloud. He meant that if they stayed in motion, the ghouls couldn’t attack the tub in such a heavy concentration.

Fuck Kenny, Critias didn’t care how many ghouls went after him. If this idea has any limitations, now is the time to discover them.

Critias was interested in all the switches on the control panel they had, What else do you have on there? If we are going to test the equipment, we may as well try all of it, how about some more lights or maybe a siren?

Borz gave a why not shrug and then started to flip switches. He turned on six more rotating lights then activated the external loudspeaker that played the tune Pop Goes the Weasel.

They could see each other when George called them on the radio, How is it going? Having fun yet?

Critias sent back, It works just fine. We are going to do some laps around the runways to get a full load and then come back to see how the dumping works. What is the situation on the burn fuel?

Gloria listened on the radio. She spoke up, "The Scorpion will be ready within the hour. I’ll keep you updated."

Jack radioed, "I want Borz to drive the Blood Sausage around to the upwind side and then dump what you have. We don’t need a full load just to see that it works. If everything is functioning properly, just keep collecting for the time being."

The expulsion pumps on Borz’s truck had a discharge nozzle that swung about on an articulated hydraulic arm. It only took a few minutes for him to get into position and then he started to spray the gory contents of his truck into the burn area.

The filth of liquefied ghouls squirted out like Hell’s ejaculate, and the reek of it produced the urge to vomit when it confronted the nostrils.

As the last of the despicably foul contents spurted out into the burned grass, Critias told Borz, Let’s get moving. This shit is starting to dampen my positive attitude.

Borz looked at Critias to show that he also had second thoughts. This is not a manly thing we do, he felt ashamed. This is evil.

War is evil, Critias replied. This is genuine necessity. We have a duty with death and death waits for no man.

I have to look at my woman, Borz meant that she would look back and he didn’t want to see shame in her eyes.

Critias called his wife on the truck radio, Carmen, you can see what my visor has seen. Are you ashamed of me?

Carmen’s android mind went into convulsions as she sought a swift answer to bolster Critias’ convictions. Her emergent program for compassion, pity, and mercy understood that every plague victim had once been a human being. It was ignorance of their stories that made their destruction palatable. If the ghouls were their own friends or family, their executions would require dignity.

As strangers, the ghouls frequently died as a matter of sporting entertainment as when they wanted to see who had the quicker rifle.

Carmen found that priority was its own wisdom. Even when an infinite number of variables confronted her, she could cut through the chaos if she first secured what was most essential to the continuity of everything else. Without her community, no humans would exist to bemoan the unfortunate price they had to pay for that life.

There wasn’t any noticeable delay when Carmen replied, This is not like you are firebombing Dresden. Those people stopped being truly alive from the moment that the infection consumed their minds. Even as soup, they still remain just as undead, which is why we need to burn their remains. I agree that your expedient mercy appears as baleful madness.

A great man once told me that yes, that is a coldhearted bastard thing that we do, but we must do it. We are to blame and they have our apology. You must question your actions for them to be pure. When you no longer care, you are falling to evil. When you stop caring at all, I will be ashamed of you.

Critias told her, I’m sorry that I forced you into this life. It is a necessity, but you should have been a schoolteacher or a poet. Instead, I dreamed you up for this.

You dreamed me up for your bed, Carmen assured him. It was your pity that saved Verloc and Romeo and it may yet save Cutter and Judas that mysterious librarian.

Don’t even try to say that you do this out of duty. Jim would be first to tell you that you don’t follow all your orders. You do what you think is right. If you want to quit, I will support your decision. Someone else can operate the grinder.

Borz got the truck on the move again to do some more collecting, I will save my pity for the men without good wives. Carmen is a good woman that would not lead you wrong.

Critias confided in Borz, She asked me why I don’t chase after loose women. I didn’t try to explain to her how much she does for me.

Women are not men, Borz referred to the sublime truth of such an obvious statement. She would never understand. My wife thinks she discovered the good man hiding inside me.

Yeah, Critias understood that. It would hurt Carmen’s feelings if she knew it was never inside me. She changed me.

A good woman has ended more pirate careers than the hangman’s noose ever did, Borz laughed.

Critias and Borz drove out to the airbase. They went so far as to reach the opposite side. Critias wanted to check out the lightrail depot there, the original one that had serviced the airbase. Most of the on base housing was out over that way. That overgrown area was where they found the most concentrated population of resident ghouls.

As long as the truck moved to some degree, only a few infected at a time made attacks on their grinder.

Kenny gained in confidence and he had learned to use his oar preemptively. He forced the ghouls into the machine with his jabs and furious bludgeoning. The truck’s forward movement also made the tub grinder rock about, which together made the climb to get at Kenny significantly more precarious.

They were on their way back to dump a full load when they saw Gloria and Henry in the new Scorpion truck. The Scorpion was an armored fuel tanker that would serve as the mobile refueling station for other machines and vehicles.

The Scorpion had promising future potential as the Foragers’ fuel harvester. It could suction gas tanks dry through a hydraulically actuated hypodermic harpoon.

It could also siphon up fuel from underground storage tanks through an airlock floor hatch that ingeniously descended to touch the ground.

The divided compartments inside the skin of the great storage tank allowed for them to carry fuel oil, diesel, and gasoline at the same time without any risk of mixing them together.

By late afternoon, Colonel Davis and the Gravewalkers brought the lightrail train out to the airbase’s open air surface depot.

They provided security while Critias and Carmen made the pirates clean up corpses from there. The slaves carried the bodies