Thom's Bad day

   This story here actually starts here: The Future Of the Z Age


    The sounds of screaming penetrated the blackness that had engulfed Thom. His head hurt something fierce and all was still dark but he knew he had to try and get going. He remembered looking at his dog and then he had crashed into something, but what? A low whimper broke through the pain and Thom remembered the truck now, and his dog in the back seat! Thom fought the darkness and slowly light penetrated his world, showing him exactly the carnage that lay around him.

  'Holy shit." His car was totaled and so was the truck that he had hit. "Buddy!" Thom quickly turned in his seat to look at his dog. The sudden movement brought the world spinning around him and he nearly emptied his stomach. He closed his eyes one more time to try and stop the world from spilling him into space. Slowly things straightened enough that he could look at his dog once more.

  Buddy was now on the floor of the car panting lightly with those low whimpers that Thom had heard escaping every few seconds. "OK boy. We will get you some help." Thom struggled to move to try and comfort his dog and found he himself was stuck in the front seat. His seat belt had become jammed and he could not release the thing. "Come on you piece of shit."

   Another whimper escaped Buddy as Thom fought his restraints. "Just give me one more second Buddy." Still though Thom could not get his seat belt to release. He remembered that he did have a knife in the glove box and would just cut the belt. Heck, the car was totaled anyway. Thom was just able to reach his glove box with the tips of his fingers, popping it open with a little squeeze. There the knife sat, but just out of reach.

   Thom grunted and squeezed, trying to gain every little inch he possibly could. Still his fingers just seemed to be too short. A sharp rap upon the passenger side window caused Thom to jump out of his seat and back against the driver door. There banging upon the car was what Thom thought must be the person from the other vehicle, they were covered in blood and looked injured.

   "Are you ok man? My seat belt is stuck and my dog is in the back seat. Can you help me?" Thom asked the new arrival. This person didn't even act as if he had heard what Thom had said and continued to bang upon the door. 'What is wrong with you? Come around the car." Still though they just banged on the window. Thom was confused by this until  he saw another person walk up to the same side of the car as the first. Both of them looked hurt, but something was definitely wrong with them. They had this strange look in their eyes and both were snapping their jaws like trying to eat something just out of reach.

   "What the hell. Screw this." With a new effort Thom began banging against his belt, reaching desperately for that knife that would free him. His hand banged against the glove box, causing the knife itself to shift. Thom tried again, and again until finally the knife had slid just close enough to Thom that he could grab at it. A third figured began banging on the back passenger side of the car, startling THom again and causing the knife to slip out of his fingers to the floor in front of him.

  'Focus dumbass!" Thom yelled at himself. He did not know what was going on around him, but he knew that he had to get out of there or he would be in some serious trouble in just a few minutes. bending forward He was able to finally get the grip on his knife that he needed and brought it up to his belt. It was sharp and cut through the restraint without any effort.

  Finally free Thom pushed up and around his seat to get a good look at his dog. He tried his best to ignore the now four figures along his passenger side trying to get into his car. If he did not hurry they would start to move around to the driver side and he would have no way out of there without coming face to face with these people. "Oh buddy, come on boy. We have to get out of here." Thom reached down to see if he could pick his dog up and place him on the seat before making his escape and carrying him.

   Tears began to slide from Thom's eyes though, 'Buddy, no boy. Please no." At some point over the last couple of minutes Buddy had stopped breathing. Thom's vision again blurred to near blindness in his grief. "AAAArrrrggghh!" Thom yelled then."What the Fuck is going on!" Those people that were banging on his windows paid no mind to his yelling and continued. One started to find it's way around the back side of the car to the driver side.

  After one last long look Thom turned from his dog and opened his door. Standing outside of his car he realized that what he had thought might be a breeze was in fact those people that had been  beating his car. Each saw him get out from the car and all of them began to walk around the vehicle to get at him. The one that had already been around the back of the car was the first that Thom came close to.

  With outstretched hands and moans from his mouth it reached for Thom. With a strong shove Thom was able to push it over, but it came back to its feet and tried again. Thom was able to easily knock it over once more, but found that he may not be able to keep that up when it came to three or four of them at once. Thom moved away from them all and around the side of the truck. This is where he found what had been screaming a few minutes earlier.


That is it for this installment. Until next time.

The Future of the Z Age

  I will be doing something different with this blog, and I will keep up on it a bit more this time. I will write out some short stories, nothing perfect mind you just the rough one. Most likely these will be made up on the spot as I write a blog post. I will also take ideas. If you have a scene or thought, maybe I can turn it into more (Challenge accepted). I will also post portions or scenes that I am writing in my longer works. This seems to be along the same lines that I have been doing in the past, but there will be more.

  I would love to also do reviews of other books. The good, bad or ugly of it. Even maybe review other blogs or guest on them or have guests on my blog. Movies as well, but that would be limited to one certain genre. I will also be writing posts that have to do with sustainability. Not that I feel like I am going to only want to this type of thing, but in this world it may be a good idea to know this type of info. Even product reviews are not out of the question, as long as they fit the theme, then they should be talked about.

  If you have read any of my stories, they are all themed horror. Add to that they all usually have zombies. Now, as much as I love zombies, they are not my whole imagination. I have a lot of things that are spinning around in my head and there is no way to write them all without expanding my horizons. Here is the best part about it though, they all live in this same world. So stay tuned and you may see the evolution of my work. I personally cannot wait. Now, maybe I can entertain for a minute here:



  The bite burned like hell. Thom did not really know why his dog had freaked out the way he had and why he had suddenly bit his master of ten years. At this point Thom didn't care. All he cared about was getting the torn flesh on his hand cleaned up and bandaged. The water was cold and stung something fierce, causing Thom's bearded face to contort. "Shit. I need stitches." Thom said through gritted teeth.

  Thom's dog laid in the corner, both cowering from his master and in pain. With a towel now wrapped around his hand Thom went to look at his dog, now that he had been calmed down. What Thom had not noticed before was the dark smear of blood on his dog's hind leg. "Hey boy, let me look at that." Thom reached out and the dog growled at him. "It's ok, I am not gonna hurt you." He inched closer a bit to get a better look at his dog.

  The wound on the dog's hind leg looked to be a bite mark. "That is why you bit me. Guess I am not the only one that may need a doctor." Thom looked to try and tell what had bit his dog. His first guess was another dog, but the shape of the wound did not match that of a dogs. "You know boy, if I didn't know better, I would say the a person bit you." Thom's dog just whimpered a bit and rolled to his side, breathing heavily.

  "OK, lets get to the vet so we can have you checked out. I can wait a bit." Thom picked his dog up, who whimpered even more this time, and carried him out to the car. The drive to the vet was not long, but still it was a ways away from where Thom lived. Living in a rural area, nothing is close to each other and driving is the only way to get anywhere. What Thom did notice though was that something very strange was going on. In fact, this time of day would normally be a quiet ride with almost no one around. Today was different.

  The first thing that tipped him off was the car that was half off the road, but no one was around. Normally people would be waiting for the police to show, or a friend or even a tow. Not today. The second such car he saw made him very aware that things were not right. Although people jogging was not an uncommon site, someone running in fear was new. Add to that, that same person being chased by what looked to be a beat up bum was definitely strange.

  "What is wrong with the world today. You ok back there Buddy" Thom said to his dog. With that Buddy let out another whimper louder than any since he was first hurt. Thom looked over his shoulder to make sure his dog was going to be fine for a few more minutes. With his head turned Thom did not see the truck pulling out of the side street until it was too late. Although he slammed on his breaks it did not prevent the two vehicles from crashing into one another. Glass shattered and Thom flew forward, luckily his seat belt and air bag kept him from flying through the windshield but did not prevent his head from hitting the steering wheel. For a moment Thom thought he saw someone running away, but his vision quickly dimmed and everything went blank.

  Wow, OK. I think I will stop there for now. I think I know where this story is going, but I am not sure. It really is up to Thom. I am sure to make his life hell though, so do not think that he is going to be fine for long. Let me know what you think and maybe what could be improved. My writing is always getting better so I appreciate any thing you give me.

My letter to my Congress People

Here is a letter I wrote to my Congress people in my state of NH. I think most of you will agree with it.

Dear Congress person (the actual were sent to their name directly),

I am writing this due to my concern about our state, our nation as a whole and the direction that government is headed. I am alarmed at how and why persons run for office and how much they run. Representing our citizens in Congress should not be a job that we strive to keep, but make a difference from.

   I see all the time how people are always looking towards reelection and voting or putting forward votes on bills that would not make a difference, or even pass at all, just to show those people that elected them that they are doing what is best for them in the hopes of getting reelected.

   This type of action I feel really takes individuals away from the act of governing effectively and moving the country forward. In fact, with so much attention focused on reelection, nobody wants to cross those precious political lines to actually get something passed and maybe compromised on.

   I am sad when I think about how the political process has evolved and how our founding fathers thought it a privilege to serve, and that is just what they were doing, serving. I would love to change the face of politics so that serving in government was actually a sacrifice one had to make in order help the country as a whole, and not just some special interests.

   I know that the reason those in Congress and the President have the perks they do s so that they could not be influenced by those outside in their decisions, but I do not think that it has actually worked like that. We see too often how people are elected with the help of those with money, and as such have to try and support those that elected them in the first place.

  I apologize about the long letter, as I am quite frustrated with the way that things are headed, and although I would like a lot of things to change quite a bit, there is one thing that I feel could be changed would have the greatest impact.

   Congress passed an amendment to the Constitution after Roosevelt was president. Prior to him, presidents only served two terms in a tradition set forward from Washington, but not Roosevelt. He was actually elected to four terms, which is unheard of.

   Because of this, Congress had a great fear. They realized that there was a possibility that it could be abused by someone that did not want to give up power and continue to get elected. They did not want to fall into that type of hole that allowed one president through "elections" to rule for years and years.

  We were lucky that Roosevelt was one of those that wanted only the best for the nation, but I can understand Congress and I agree that we do in fact need term limits. Here is the real kicker to that though, Congress imposed term limits on the office of President, but not on Congress itself.

  I actually find that to be counter intuitive, until you dig deeper into thoughts.  The fallacy of most persons is that they wish to hold onto the power that they attain, and to limit others. I don't blame them as a person, I have thought of the same in the past myself.

  Here is where we all have to step in to help us create a better political environment. I think we should impose term limits on Congress itself.

  Although details would need to be hammered out, it could work something like this: Senators could serve a maximum of 10 years, effectively limiting them to one term within the senate, or if they had been appointed or elected in a special election the ability to serve a full term. The house would be limited to 5 years. This would add 2 terms to them. There terms are so short that 2 terms may be needed, but no more really after that.

  I think people would be much more willing to focus on getting things done, compromising and passing those laws and budgets while they are in session instead of concentrating on doing whatever it takes to make themselves re-electable.

  I hope that you truly think into this. I also hope that Congress finds a way to govern themselves and does not require the citizens to govern for them. I say this not to scare anyone, but to remind you that although Congress is the easiest and fastest route to change the Constitution, it is not the only way.

   If my efforts to motivate and move this type of action forward do not find traction within the Congress I wish to see bettered, I will try everything I can to get the State legislatures to apply for a convention to alter the Constitution.

  I greatly appreciate you in reading this and I am hoping that something of this magnitude yet of common sense can be moved forward.

With many warm regards,

   Timothy Benoit

I decided to write this in regards to reading a report of the possibility of the next Republican agenda including a constitutional change to outlaw abortions. Please, do not get me wrong, I could never have an abortion myself (being a guy, guess that is obvious, but also never want my wife to do it either) but I felt that there really are many more pressing concerns in this world than to try and outlaw abortions. With the economy the way it is, jobs, education, healthcare and many other issues truly plaguing us, why cannot we focus on something that could actually be changed for the better, instead of focusing on something so political to begin with.

If Congress can look at an amendment to the Constitution for this, I am sure they all could agree that an amendment with term limits for Congress themselves should be an easy law to pass.

Although these are my opinions, I am hoping that most others themselves can see the logic in all of this.

Timothy Benoit

Ray Bradbury

This post is dedicated to Ray Bradbury, who has influenced so many people, myself included. I hope to never find myself i one of his stories, especially being a writer. But, I am thankful for these worlds that he created. I have been able to get lost on them and in the process expanded my own mind. My imagination has grown, and I only wish that one day my own writing can expand the minds of someone else. I leave here with these thoughts, and maybe I will be able to write something great because of you Ray.

More Zombie Physics!!

"View The Physics of Zombies V: Madore’s Rule of Zombie Longevity I would say that this paper is amazing. Trust me when I say that these guys know what they are talking about. Just read it to get an understanding.

Big Bite Cont

Richard was heading into work, being his own boss he could show up whenever he wanted to. He owned a resale business, he would buy and sell stuff on the internet and make a profit. He was a genius when it came to that sort of thing, and that had allowed him to buy an office and hire a few people to help him with it and things had been going great. Then this morning he had gotten a phone call from the secretary saying that things were going badly and they needed him there right away. Here he was speeding down the highway, trying to get there as fast as possible. He didn’t even notice the fact that there were so few cars on the road, so intent was he in driving and his cell phone.

His office was a little shop in a strip mall, luckily it was a busy place and the front gave much needed advertisement for him. There were a bunch of smaller stores in the strip, with a large hardware store and clothing store there as well. When he pulled into the parking lot he was not prepared for the sight that he saw. It was a madhouse. People were everywhere, and there were no parking spaces. He finally found a spot way out at the end, so he had to walk all the way across the parking lot just to get to his office.

Once inside, he noticed right away why they needed him so badly, apparently most of his office staff had either not shown that day or they had called out. ‘Is there a holiday I don’t know about? Are they all out at the bar getting blitzed without me?”

“I don’t know sir, but we have been slammed this morning for some of the strangest stuff, I don’t know if we can get a hold of it” Said Judy. She was the one receptionist that had actually shown up today, and by the looks of it she was near the breaking point as it was.

“Ensure you write down everyone who is not here today and send them there last check, they are all fired. Run an ad, we need some help.” Richard barked. Judy cringed at this but did as she was told, she needed this job real bad and couldn’t afford to piss off Richard any more than he was.

“Yes Sir, already got the list. We did get what we were waiting on, but now UPS says they won’t be back to get what we need to send out.” Obviously this was the wrong thing to say. Richard got this intense look in his eyes like he was going to rip her head off and Shit down it.

“Just take care of what I said, and don’t bother me I will be taking calls in my office.” Richard swept past Judy and slammed his door. Once inside he started to settle to answer a phone call when there was a small crash out front. “What the fuck was that Judy? Make sure you clean it up.” Turning back to his phone he answered the first one. “What the fuck do you want? A what? No, we don’t have any crossbows on hand.” Click, “What a crazy bitch, that’s it, I am going to cut the damn phone line.” CRASH “What the Fuck Judy, I said stop screwing around out there…. Judy?”

There was only silence that responded to Richard. Slowly he moved forward, not sure what he would find. He opened the door and realized what the crash was. The front window to the place had been shattered, but there was no Judy to be found. Looking around he could see blood smeared on the floor and what looked like some drag marks leading off towards the bathroom. “Stupid bitch, probably cut herself on the glass and had to go and clean herself up. Now I might have a lawsuit on my hands. God Damn it Judy, wha...” He just rounded the corner to the bathroom when he saw it.

It looked like a man was bending over Judy giving her mouth to mouth, but then he lifted his head and in his mouth was Judy’s nose. Her face had been torn open buy the things teeth and it looked like a bite had been taken from her throat as well, probably what had killed her. Richard panicked, “Wh wha what the fuck? Shit, fuck, god damn.” It then stood up, and slowly started making its way toward Richard. “What the fuck do you want? I have money, anything just talk to me, what do you want?” For its response opened its mouth and allowed Richard to see all its teeth. It just kept coming.

Frantically Richard looked around, some way to escape. The front was the only way out, but he wasn’t thinking clearly, and he tripped over something, what was it? Then he saw it, and immediately he had to thank Judy for something that she now did right, even if she were dead. It kept coming forward, at its god awful slow pace, but still always coming. It was a man, must have been a worker over at the hardware store, he still was wearing his apron. In Richard’s hand was a golf club that he had pulled out of the umbrella stand. He swung with all his might, a swing that could have taken the mightiest giant in the world down, if it had hit him. His swing had missed, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground. “Shit, this is it.” The zombie also fell down, and was now crawling towards Richard. Something then stopped it, and when Richard could see what it was he was amazed and thrilled, at first.

There crawling towards the both of them was Judy, she was pulling on the leg of the zombie. All Richard thought at first was she was pulling it off of him. Then he saw her eyes and realized the error of this thought. They were glazed and faraway, like she was dead. She wasn’t trying to pull the first one off; she was joining it to get a bite. “Oh, fuck what now. This is not fucking happening to me now, God Damn it.” Bang. A moment of Silence and then Bang. All Richard could see were two dead bodies now, both their heads were missing or partially gone. Richard was covered in gore, wondering what the fuck had just happened. He then looked around just to find a barrel pointing right in his face.

“Were you bitten? Are you ok?” The mystery person asked.

“Ya, I am fine. Could you get that fucking barrel out of my face now?” Richard responded. Who the fuck was this guy to just walk in and point a gun at me?

“Just had to make sure, here let me help you up.” He handed Richard a hand.

“I can do it myself, thanks. Who the fuck are you? What the fuck is going on man?” Richard Demanded.

“Hey man, sorry. Just wasn’t sure, you know? My name is John, what’s yours?”

“I am Richard, sorry the way I snapped, that one there would be my secretary, do you know what the fuck is going on man?”

“I can’t be too sure, it just seems like these things are zombies. There are a shit ton of them around. I heard a shout and came over to investigate. Good timing if you ask me, a minute more you would have been one of them. I got my truck out here, just gotta get to it. Are you with me, or not?”

“Shit man. Oh fuck. Ya, I will go with you, all I got though is this club, what can that do?”

“Just actually hit em in the head, should work pretty well. I got some other stuff in my truck, I was able to stock up before the shit really hit the fan and everyone got here. The crowd that is when it got bad, with all the people around it only took a couple of them before everyone panicked and started to run. Looks like most of them got distracted from here, but we better get a move on.”

“Ya, ok.” This all hit Richard so hard, but he was willing to go along, as long as it kept him alive. He was also a little pissed at this John guy making fun of him. He swung that club, don’t some fucking hick farmer saving his ass then rubbing it in.

They went outside. The parking lot was a completely different scene than what it was just a short while back. There were a lot of cars just sitting around, some burning. He could see things moving inside a couple of cars, but Richard didn’t want to get a closer look at what it was that was moving around. He could see a few of them off in the distance either following someone else or moving aimlessly around. A few of them had seen them and were ambling their way towards them, but they were all a ways away.

John couldn’t believe this guy. He had saved his life, and then acted like such an asshole about it. He can understand being stressed, this whole thing is crazy, but to act that way to someone who had gone out of their way to help them, disgraceful. This is a different generation. Then he giggled to himself. John he said to himself, Now you’re starting to sound just like dad, if you keep this up you will have to start drinking and wind up killing yourself at a young age. A scream in the distance broke him out of his reverie and right back to this new horrific reality. 

Big Bite Cont

John awoke that morning the same way he woke up every morning, with the sun just coming up over the horizon right into his room. It was grueling having to wake up at the crack of dawn, sometimes earlier depending what had to get done. As usual though he got up, went over to his sink and began to brush his teeth. A middle aged man looked back at him, and although he never would admit it he was quite the looker. His farm had kept him in shape, it was hard work that he did every day and it did show on the lines on his face and the gray in his hair. He kept his hair short; he did that ever since serving in the Army during the first desert storm. It was when he got back from there that he took over his father’s farm, it was so much more peaceful and with his father’s failing health it was really the only thing he had wanted to do.

Through the years of running the farm he had isolated himself from the world, not because he didn’t like people just that he had so much to do here on the farm. Then when his mother died, John found that he could no longer do anything but keep the place going. So, he took over the Pleasant farm, even though most the time it was anything but pleasant.

After taking care of himself in the bathroom, he grabbed a cup of coffee. Sitting at the kitchen table, enjoying the warmth of it and the strong fragrance he noticed something strange. There was a silence, but at this time the yard should have been filled with the sound of waking animals and birds. Coming fully alert immediately he went outside. Sure enough there was a problem. It looked like something had spooked the cows last night because they had crashed through the gate and was now down the drive quite a ways. Whatever it was though had its way with one cow. It had been eaten, torn apart and dragged away. “Shit” John said, “Must have been a pack of coyotes or even some wolves, not unheard of, but damn.” Mad at losing a cow and having to fix the fence.

“Looks like I am going to have to go get some lumber to fix this, damn it. This farm is nothing but a drain on life, I should have sold it to that developer years ago, then maybe I could relax.” At this he reluctantly went over and started to round up the other cows. It wasn’t difficult cause they all new John and that he meant no harm. After putting them up in a different pen, he fed all the livestock and made sure that they all had plenty of water.

John got himself ready to go to town. The best place to get lumber now a days was to go to the Giant Chain place in town, where the ceiling was so high and you could find anything you wanted there. Jumping into his truck he started down the road. His truck was nothing special at all, an old ford that had too much rust, not enough metal on it. Sitting in his back window was a gun rack, and it wouldn’t be right if there wasn’t a gun lying in its rightful spot there. It was a 270, nothing too powerful, but can take a deer down at 100 yds no problem and with the scope, he was some kind of accurate with it.

While driving down the road he noticed something that was just not right. He couldn’t place it, it just seemed quiet, and even though it was still early there should have been more people about. It was close to a 30 minute drive to the store, and halfway he hadn’t seen another vehicle at all. Then though he did see somebody, but something wasn’t right. Again he couldn’t place it, they were walking down the side of the road, a little strange as there weren't really a whole lot of people that live in the area, but what was weird was the way they were walking.

They were walking as if they had hurt their ankle but they were not favoring it, just walking funny, almost like they were dragging their foot along. As John got closer he could tell that their clothes were very tattered and it looked like they were hurt. At this time they turned around and John knew something was wrong with them. He stopped the truck a short distance from them, ‘Are you OK?” John asked, “Can I get someone to call 911 for you?” But the only response that John got was a slobbering mouth opening wide like it was going to eat a giant burger, but it was staring at John. “Shit, what is wrong with this bastard?” And then it got closer where John could smell it.

It was a smell like nothing that John had ever smelled before. It reminded him of that dead coon he had found when he was a kid; it must have been rotting there for a week or more. And a close look at this fellow revealed the fact that he had a gaping hole in its neck, where it may have been chewed open by a dog or something of the like. Quickly he jumped back into his truck. Now it was right at his hood, banging on it making its way towards John in the cab.

John put the truck into reverse, pounding on the gas just as it reached the window and was grabbing for John’s shirt. He went backward about 50 yds or so; it was still coming for him. John made the quick decision, my life over there undead one. He made the connection without even realizing that he did. He knew it was undead and a zombie, how he knew it though could not figure it out. He put the truck into gear and pushes the accelerator all the way to the floor. He must have hit the thing going 45 mph. He stopped and looked into his rear view mirror, but to John’s dismay it was getting back up. Again he put it into reverse and gunned it, hitting it with the ass of the truck with a sickening thud. As it fell over it went under the tires and John could hear the head pop with a squishy kind sound, like dropping a watermelon. It never got back up.

“That’s right, gotta take out there head, I remember now. It is like one of those old zombie movies. I need to get to the store before it is too late and pick up some supplies.” With that John headed out, trying to get to the store, leaving a mangled corpse on the road. What he didn’t see was the crows coming down to eat the flesh, thinking it was an easy meal.