16. An Ex-Zombie's Memoirs
As Karin cut through yet another vine she began to feel something that was very familiar to her. Boredom. The feeling that absolutely nothing interesting is happening. Having no real concept of time, Karin only knew that she had been doing this same thing, traipsing through tropical jungle, for at least six light and seven dark periods. For her, that was a bit long to be spending her new life on doing the same exact thing.
Sure, she had seen lots of thing in the jungle that had never occurred to her as a reality before. It was a very mind expanding place. But it didn't lend itself to the adventurous lifestyle that Karin wanted to have with other living humans. She hadn't even seen another human since...since...that man.
Karin stopped short, her arm falling to her side and dangling, instead of cutting through the foliage barring her path. That man. He had been there when she had...awoken. He had claimed to be the one who had awakened her and had also claimed to be her master. Karin had proved that quite wrong with ease. Even though he'd been heavily armed, she had wrestled him to the ground instantly, pinning his arms behind him. He had actually begged for mercy, had been afraid for his life.
Karin granted him it. When he had regained his footing a change had seemed to come over him. He began removing pieces of his gear and laying them on the ground before her. When all Karin did was stare blankly from him to the objects, the man began to demonstrate the use or effect of each item. He showed her what the machete was and how it could cut. She had liked that. He showed her how she could pick things up, many more things than she would've been able to carry in her arms, and put them into a pack. He showed how this pack strapped to your back and carried out the job of carrying things on your back wonderfully. Karin had found this a joy.
Clothes had been the most difficult, but after removing his own and redressing himself, Karin got the general idea. It took a while, as half of her barely formed mind was wondering why the two of them seemed to be so differently made. She seemed to recollect something of import there, but she had no idea what it was. Soon enough, she was clothed and equipped all thanks to the man. He then said a few things in something that Karin considered to be a form of communication, but she wasn't sure. Slowly the words became more familiar, and soon she recognized that they were actually words, which formed a sentence, and so on. As a result, at the end, she realized the man was speaking English, but a bit too late. The only things she heard which she understood were: "-so it's always good to be prepared, because you never know what's going to hit you."
With that the man had dropped his head down and began staring intently at the ground. Karin began to test out the machete on a nearby branch and found it sliced its way through quite easily. As she turned to regard the man again she heard a faint sob, and recognized the fact that it was a faint sob. Unfortunately, she had no recollection of what that meant and as she mulled over it thoughtfully, the man slipped from the clearing in which this had all taken place back into the jungle. To Karin it appeared as if he had disappeared and from that time on regarded him as a spirit. Little did she know how right she would become, as later he was captured and killed by a local tribe.
Karin snapped from her reverie when she heard the sounds of nearby voices. She recognized the measured tones of speech, though these were different from the man-spirit's. She thought she knew them all the same and, attacking the surrounding foliage with renewed vigor, worked her way towards the voices.
As Karin cut through yet another vine she began to feel something that was very familiar to her. Boredom. The feeling that absolutely nothing interesting is happening. Having no real concept of time, Karin only knew that she had been doing this same thing, traipsing through tropical jungle, for at least six light and seven dark periods. For her, that was a bit long to be spending her new life on doing the same exact thing.
Sure, she had seen lots of thing in the jungle that had never occurred to her as a reality before. It was a very mind expanding place. But it didn't lend itself to the adventurous lifestyle that Karin wanted to have with other living humans. She hadn't even seen another human since...since...that man.
Karin stopped short, her arm falling to her side and dangling, instead of cutting through the foliage barring her path. That man. He had been there when she had...awoken. He had claimed to be the one who had awakened her and had also claimed to be her master. Karin had proved that quite wrong with ease. Even though he'd been heavily armed, she had wrestled him to the ground instantly, pinning his arms behind him. He had actually begged for mercy, had been afraid for his life.
Karin granted him it. When he had regained his footing a change had seemed to come over him. He began removing pieces of his gear and laying them on the ground before her. When all Karin did was stare blankly from him to the objects, the man began to demonstrate the use or effect of each item. He showed her what the machete was and how it could cut. She had liked that. He showed her how she could pick things up, many more things than she would've been able to carry in her arms, and put them into a pack. He showed how this pack strapped to your back and carried out the job of carrying things on your back wonderfully. Karin had found this a joy.
Clothes had been the most difficult, but after removing his own and redressing himself, Karin got the general idea. It took a while, as half of her barely formed mind was wondering why the two of them seemed to be so differently made. She seemed to recollect something of import there, but she had no idea what it was. Soon enough, she was clothed and equipped all thanks to the man. He then said a few things in something that Karin considered to be a form of communication, but she wasn't sure. Slowly the words became more familiar, and soon she recognized that they were actually words, which formed a sentence, and so on. As a result, at the end, she realized the man was speaking English, but a bit too late. The only things she heard which she understood were: "-so it's always good to be prepared, because you never know what's going to hit you."
With that the man had dropped his head down and began staring intently at the ground. Karin began to test out the machete on a nearby branch and found it sliced its way through quite easily. As she turned to regard the man again she heard a faint sob, and recognized the fact that it was a faint sob. Unfortunately, she had no recollection of what that meant and as she mulled over it thoughtfully, the man slipped from the clearing in which this had all taken place back into the jungle. To Karin it appeared as if he had disappeared and from that time on regarded him as a spirit. Little did she know how right she would become, as later he was captured and killed by a local tribe.
Karin snapped from her reverie when she heard the sounds of nearby voices. She recognized the measured tones of speech, though these were different from the man-spirit's. She thought she knew them all the same and, attacking the surrounding foliage with renewed vigor, worked her way towards the voices.
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I find it hard to edit SGs, and even fave SG pics. I try to develop a system, but I've failed.
As far as having people read my stuff, I am so self-conscious about it...it's genuinely odd. I let someone from the site read it for the first time really late last night, and I couldn't believe I did! I think it's hard to redevelop my writing style.
I have a question for you--do you write to get it all onto the paper and edit later, or do you write really thoroughly so you don't have to touch up too much?