Wholly Undead - Chapter 240 Living-Dead Tissue

Jack reluctantly pulled his lips from Emily.

“Not that I don’t enjoy this, We have a lot of work… Emily, how do you feel?” Jack asked the question that pressed him. He did all this to test an idea he held.

Emily slid down Jack’s large form and touched back down on the stony ground outside the lab.

She felt her stomach and realized for the first time since she became the supposed Goddess of Ghouls… She wasn’t hungry!

She patted her face a few times as if to wake herself up.

[I see.] From her reaction, Jack could tell she felt different, but still he waited for her to answer.

“I’m not hungry!” Emily exclaimed!

“You never get full?” Jack probed.

“Well, it’s not exactly that! Even when I eat until I’m what you call full… I’m just physically full… I can’t eat more, but I want to… At the moment, I don’t feel physically full, but… but-but… I don’t crave to eat more!”

Jack reached out and rubbed Emily’s head, much like he did when she was still in her child form.

Emily rubbed her face against his hand, as Jack asked, “Remember that time when you tried to grant me flesh?”

Emily nodded her head under Jack’s hand.

“Can you do this for the test subjects inside… I think with your blessing… This might stabilize their form.”

“Oh? OH! That makes sense! Why didn’t I think of that before?!?” Emily squealed in delight and self-mockery.

“You were hungry? Ha.”

Emily pulled on Jack’s right hand to the Lab.

The Lab door opened again, silencing the talk of the ladies within, as they watch Jack and Emily coming in.

Leslie looked between the two… Noticing the caked blood around Emily’s mouth and the crusted up blood on Jack’s now thick again left arm.

Leslie pulled from under her sash a cleaning cloth, as she approached Emily.

“I swear… You need to pay more attention to your looks.” Leslie swooped down upon Emily wiping the latter’s mouth with fierce strokes.

Emily paused and then didn’t fight Leslie’s cleaning attack, as Eris gave a light laugh.

Dr. Hollowell too noticed the caked blood on the God-King’s arm. She approached and looked over his forearm, as Leslie finished cleaning up Emily.

Dr. Hollowell reached out and poked around Jack’s forearm, and noticing a slight color difference in the skin tones of the flesh on his hand and back of his arm compared to where the blood flaked off, she swelled with curiosity as to how this came to pass and exactly it was that he and his second consort did outside the doors of her lab.

“Nothing to worry about good Doctor.” Jack pulled his arm back, leaving Dr. Hollowell’s grasp.

“Ah… Yes.” Dr. Hollowell tilted her head, as she asked, “Can this be granted to those behind me?”

“Not like mine, but what I was just asking Emily, is going to be exactly what We need. Let’s hope it works.”

“Pray to the God-King, as it would be known today, haha!” Dr. Hollowell laughed, as she walked back to the shamblers.

“No… Pray to my Goddess of a consort.” Jack spoke lightly.

Dr. Hollowell turned, “What?”

Jack didn’t elaborate, as he walked to the side of Leslie, as Emily wiggled out of Leslie’s grasp, and trotted over to the Shamblers.

The shamblers that were the former judges didn’t understand what was going on, but lowered their heads to Emily, knowing she was the second consort.

Emily quickly drew in the air numerous runes for each of the shamblers, before pointing her fingers to the poor pocked marked and decayed fellows.

The air twisted around the four putrid sacks called undead, and for a moment silence dwelled within the lab… but not before long hair raising screams began to fill the lower levels of the Holy Palace.

All present, except for Jack, averted their eyes, as shining light filled the lab, issued forth from the four kneeled on the floor of the lab.

Jack watched as the liquid glowstone called fulgor oozed out of the wretches and coated their bodies; wrapping them almost like a cocoon of light, as the screams began.

Jack watched as the golden fluid washed over sections of the shamblers restoring the flesh underneath as it passed. It wasn’t long before the light subsided, and the screams died down to dull hoarse grunts and tired wheezing.

The four had collapsed on the floor with labored breathing, uncharacteristic of Undead.

Jack approached, as did Dr. Hollowell. Leslie followed closely behind Jack. Emily stood where she was, as Eris did the same in the distance.

“Amazing… Simply amazing…” Dr. Hollowell spoke with light words, as her crazed eyes flashed in her sockets.

The four former judges turned shamblers were shamblers no more! Flesh renewed, and with a healthy though pale hue to each of the test subjects. What was most interesting was that each subject’s arms were corded up with light-gold veins. It was as if gold worms squiggled just underneath their leathery hides. If one looked closely enough, one could see that they pulsed with a heartbeat.

“Hmmm?” Jack commented aloud, before watching Dr. Hollowell and her assistants begin testing various things on the subjects.

“It seems there is even greater pain here.” Jack continued to comment, as he watched the former judge on the far left withered in abject agony, as his grunts had bearly any unlife. If one only heard the sounds being issued by the far left subject, one would think he was inches away from meeting the death god spoken about so often by the God-King.

Dr. Hollowell had an assistant take a chunk of flesh from the calf of the subject on the far right, Jack’s former world would call this a biopsy.

After a few minutes of the good doctor going over the subjects, and just long enough that Leslie’s patients began to wane, did Dr. Hollowell pull her eyes up from what Jack knew was called a microscope… It seemed in the Underworld it was called a Magnifying Spyglass or Magnaglass.

“Horrifically great!” Shouted Dr. Hollowell’s odd voice, as Jack turned his attention from Eris, who had come to Jack’s other side to lean on him.

“So, what’s the verdict?” Jack asked amused, but also somewhat bewildered by the withering cases of the four former judges. Jack wasn’t sure, but he had a feeling these four would in unspeakable pain. Something about their twitching movements, crazed eyes to a vacant expression that alternated back to visages of pain that made the Masks on the doors of Hades seem… Tranquil.

“This blessing? Gift? Curse? Whatever your second consort, nay- Whatever Consort Emily has done to these four seems to keep them more or less intact. Even now under the Magnaglass the flesh is decaying and regrowing. It’s in a constant state of decay and growth. This could even be called “Living-Dead” Tissue.”

Jack rubbed the stubble on his chin again, as he nodded to himself.

[So I just need to give them blades in their fists and name them after a kick-ass animal… Or katana’s and guns and teach them to break the fourth wall, haha…!]