First, I'm extremely excited that this is returning.
While I haven't always been fond of Alex, this was a pretty good part.
I'm oddly relieved for Alex's current condition now that Ryan's around even though we don't know much about him, so I can only hope Ryan is helpful to Alex's mission.
Alex Kotov — On the road, East Texas — 1 Year, 1 Month — 16-06: When Alex finally woke up, he had all the usual aches and pains, plus an urg… moree to cough. He found himself in a tent, lying on and amidst blankets, naked but for the blankets that covered him. It appeared to be day, for pinpricks of light penetrated the tight weave in places—a spell of warmth after what had been weeks of overcast. There seemed to be a lot of activity going on outside the tent: bustling, cursing, laughing. From some close by, he heard a whinny, and he recalled the events in the trashed house, the clop of hooves he had heard.
With care, he stretched his limbs. He received twinges of pain which, he knew, were warning of much greater pain to come if kept testing himself. But it was sufficient to find that the sensation of constraints he had been feeling was actually a cast, or perhaps several layers bandages. Whatever the case, he settled back into the blankets and … [view original content]
Oh my gosh I loved that! The second I saw 'shaggy red hair' I was basically like "Holy shit, is that Ryan!?" Such a treat. Glad to see you're back for now.
Alex Kotov — On the road, East Texas — 1 Year, 1 Month — 16-06: When Alex finally woke up, he had all the usual aches and pains, plus an urg… moree to cough. He found himself in a tent, lying on and amidst blankets, naked but for the blankets that covered him. It appeared to be day, for pinpricks of light penetrated the tight weave in places—a spell of warmth after what had been weeks of overcast. There seemed to be a lot of activity going on outside the tent: bustling, cursing, laughing. From some close by, he heard a whinny, and he recalled the events in the trashed house, the clop of hooves he had heard.
With care, he stretched his limbs. He received twinges of pain which, he knew, were warning of much greater pain to come if kept testing himself. But it was sufficient to find that the sensation of constraints he had been feeling was actually a cast, or perhaps several layers bandages. Whatever the case, he settled back into the blankets and … [view original content]
Ooooh, a new part, hell yes. This is a good day, a great day, I say! Just what I needed, a new part for my favourite story, I am so happy to see this. Also glad to hear that the account issues seem to have faded for now. If they come back, some have apparently solved their problems by switching to other browsers. But well, for now I am very happy to see this wonderful story active again. Has it really been three months? Crazy how times flies! I am so hyped to see Alex and eventually the Colorado group and, of course and always, my sweets at Rosa Drive. Ah, what is hype may never die
Now, out of Alex' parts, this one was my favourite so far, a great way of continuing the story after the break. Well, this was also quite the twist. We never knew anything of the guys chasing after the two that Alex encountered, so it was a pleasant surprise that their leader at least seems actually reasonable. Sure, we don't know too much about them yet, but there's worse first impressions that treating the wounds of a complete stranger and even though Alex promised them some massive profit, agreeing to support him is quite a decent streak as well. Ryan and his crew are possibly not what I'd consider good people, but decent as far as the post-apocalyptic society goes, I'd say they are this at least. Very excited to learn more about them.
Alex Kotov — On the road, East Texas — 1 Year, 1 Month — 16-06: When Alex finally woke up, he had all the usual aches and pains, plus an urg… moree to cough. He found himself in a tent, lying on and amidst blankets, naked but for the blankets that covered him. It appeared to be day, for pinpricks of light penetrated the tight weave in places—a spell of warmth after what had been weeks of overcast. There seemed to be a lot of activity going on outside the tent: bustling, cursing, laughing. From some close by, he heard a whinny, and he recalled the events in the trashed house, the clop of hooves he had heard.
With care, he stretched his limbs. He received twinges of pain which, he knew, were warning of much greater pain to come if kept testing himself. But it was sufficient to find that the sensation of constraints he had been feeling was actually a cast, or perhaps several layers bandages. Whatever the case, he settled back into the blankets and … [view original content]
So.... I know there hasn't been a part in a while and Hope hasn't even been online in over 3 months and that is all very concerning. I'm not sure what is going on, I hope he's alright. If you read this though, maybe an update or something in that direction would be welcome, because I at least am quite worried over the long silence.
That being said, today is Monument's third anniversary and even though it seems unclear when it'll continue, I think it is in order to thank Hope for this wonderful work he did here. I can only hope it will continue one day, preferrably soon, or that we at least know that Hope is alright, but even if not, the story is still near and dear to my heart and deserves being remembered as the amazing work that it is. There is really so much I can say, I don't think I'd ever get tired of praising this story and the feels it gave me, but with its future currently seeming uncertain, I'll hold back for the moment. For now, what is most important is that Hope is alright, so, Hope, if you read this, please let us know what is going on, I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we are concerned.
I can only echo what Liquid said, I’m quite concerned. It’s a good thing that Minument reached its third anniversary, Hope's absence is more than concerning.
Hope, if something’s going on or you need help with something, please let us know. Even if you can’t give details, a simple “hey, I’m alright” is good enough.
So.... I know there hasn't been a part in a while and Hope hasn't even been online in over 3 months and that is all very concerning. I'm not… more sure what is going on, I hope he's alright. If you read this though, maybe an update or something in that direction would be welcome, because I at least am quite worried over the long silence.
That being said, today is Monument's third anniversary and even though it seems unclear when it'll continue, I think it is in order to thank Hope for this wonderful work he did here. I can only hope it will continue one day, preferrably soon, or that we at least know that Hope is alright, but even if not, the story is still near and dear to my heart and deserves being remembered as the amazing work that it is. There is really so much I can say, I don't think I'd ever get tired of praising this story and the feels it gave me, but with its future currently seeming uncertain, I'll hold back for the moment. For now,… [view original content]
Ooooh, a new part, hell yes. This is a good day, a great day, I say! Just what I needed, a new part for my favourite story, I am so happy to… more see this. Also glad to hear that the account issues seem to have faded for now. If they come back, some have apparently solved their problems by switching to other browsers. But well, for now I am very happy to see this wonderful story active again. Has it really been three months? Crazy how times flies! I am so hyped to see Alex and eventually the Colorado group and, of course and always, my sweets at Rosa Drive. Ah, what is hype may never die
Now, out of Alex' parts, this one was my favourite so far, a great way of continuing the story after the break. Well, this was also quite the twist. We never knew anything of the guys chasing after the two that Alex encountered, so it was a pleasant surprise that their leader at least seems actually reasonable. Sure, we don't know too much about them yet, but … [view original content]
Yeah, same here, I've sent him a PM as well, a while ago even and I tried to contact him via his steam account, but he hasn't been online there in even longer when compared to his absence in the forums. So, I really don't know what is going on, if Hope will return, if he even is alright and that is certainly worrying me.
Hey guys. I intended to write this yesterday, but the day got away from me. It's been a while, longer than I thought it has been. It was a wrong of me to leave you guys hanging for so long with no updates or continuations to either story. I'm sorry. Classes have taken the focus of my writing. History class has weekly writing assignments, and I've gotten a little carried away writing historical short stories for it. I'm also 40,000 words into that novel, which I suppose isn't much progress considering the length of my absence. While it's still unfinished, I can't help but consider it an accomplishment since it's longest thing I've ever written on own, without outside input, and with my own characters. It is truly awful, but as a first draft, I can't expect much else. I've been reading a ton still: I read 98 books last year, including A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings (hyped for book 3, but I'm pacing myself). This year, my reading goal is 104 books; I'm at 40 so far, but counting I'm graphics novels this time, and that's given me a real boost.
Health-wise, I'm good. My family and I were sick off and on for much of December and January, but we're all much better now. I'm in a choir group now, which has been okay, and I recently joined a theater/improv group, which has been a lot of fun. I should say now that I'm going on a month-long trip in May up the east coast as the game end for my American history class. Bottom line is, I've been good but busy. That said, going forward I'm going to make time to return to an active presence on the forums, whether that's interacting on the forum itself, following other users' stories, or providing new parts to my own stories.
On the matter of Silicon County:
Since it's been so long, and since this story is somewhat convoluted, I'm going to reread what I've written because there are certain areas that I'm unclear on and possibly some stuff I've forgotten. Meanwhile, I'll be producing a summery so that my readers don't need to go to that same trouble. However, I will continue to post new parts—written from the point of view of a new character, whose perspective I was planning to introduce in chapter four. Moving it around shouldn't cause any problems. This way, the story can go on. Resuming with an unfamiliar perspective should also hopefully provide a good jumping on point. I'm writing on the new part. It should be finished in the near future.
On the matter of Monument to the Walking Dead:
In the past, I've voiced my problems with writing this story. Unfortunately, my disillusion has only grown. Zombies bore me now. I know that the human drama is important part, but it's the same with that, frankly. Never could get into The Walking Dead comic. The show lost my after season five. Though I still liked it, the game kind of lost me half through season two. But I fucking love season one of the Telltale game. I'm going to replay it soon in the hopes that I can recapture my enthusiasm for writing Monument.
In any case, I think I need to reconceptualize Monument, because I'm just not feeling it. I'm sorry, but I don't think I can continue to write it as I have been. In own my opinion—which may or not be shared—it's too directionless, repetitive, and it uses too many cliches of the franchise. Death is also cheap and pointless in the story. Characters die to clear the roster. I know I have a much more cynical view on the story, but something needs to change. Again, I've promised not to cancel it, and I'm keeping to my word. I also don't want to ditched the current plot threads. I think I will pick up the current plots threads, but ditch my old plans and come up with something that I would want to write. I would like to hear your thoughts on this.
I have one question in particular to ask of everyone. Besides being fan fiction and copying the mechanics of the zombie virus, Monument has few connections to The Walking Dead franchise. How would you feel if I moved further away from the source material? If I ventured into other genres of horror, such as fantasy or science fiction, if I gave Monument a more supernatural edge? Since I don't want to have a jarring/alienating tonal shift, I would have to be subtle/gradual with the introduction of such elements, but it would give me much more wriggle room and I think it would go a long way to curing my burnout of the story.
PS: I have more characters than I know what to do with, so I'm closing submissions on both stories. If anyone were planning to submit, message me; I'm more than willing to work something out. It's not that I'm opposed to new characters, just that I don't want to openly advertise for their submission anymore.
Ah, first of all, welcome back in proper! First of all, don't be sorry. I think we are all just glad that you are back and that nothing bad happened and that you and your family are feeling alright. That is the most important thing and if time on the forums has to be cut short for other stuff, then that is no shame, I guess it was just the long absence that rang some alarm bells.
When it comes to Silicon, I am excited for this. For sure I have to reread a couple stuff as well, some of my old theories and things like that, because it has been so long and I must admit, I might not fully know every detail anymore. Can't hurt and I am really glad the story will continue as it did. There is not much else I can say right now, other than that I am so much looking forward to get back to read the story and to learn more about what is going on there.
Now, onwards to Monument, those are less happy news. That being said, I am glad you don't plan on outright cancelling the story. From its beginnings three years ago, Monument has always been and likely will always be near and dear to my heart. Admittedly though, that is not because of the zombies. There are only so many stories you can tell when zombies are involved. It's a reason the genre itself is slowly burning out. The reason for my personal investment in Monument is the strong cast of characters that we have seen growing for years now, through all the hardships. As long as that won't change, neither will my excitement for the story. For that, it doesn't matter if they are specifically in the Walking Dead universe, or if you decide on adding other elements to the story. In my opinion, when it comes to a continuation of Monument it is the most important thing that you find a way that makes you excited to write the story. The passion you had in the early days, that is what makes your writing so captivating. Pardon my french, but compared to that, I couldn't give a rat's buttocks about staying true to the Walking Dead canon. That doesn't matter. I signed up for a Walking Dead fanfiction, but I stayed for so much more. If you feel like simply having zombies around is too repetitive, too predictable and it causes you to slowly lose interest in the story, then change it. It might have started as Walking Dead fanfiction, but you are the writer and no one else should have a say in the setting you wish to use. If you want the setting to expand, including other themes, other genres, things that don't exist in the source material, then go for it. Anything if it causes you to regain passion for the story. Frankly, the reason I stick with Monument is first and foremost your writing, the characters I've grown invested into and the thrill. Obviously, if the story continues the first won't change, because you remain the writer. The second won't change because you just confirmed you will keep the current plot threads (means the characters included). For the third meanwhile, it doesn't matter if the thrill comes from the struggle between survivors and zombies or if there happen to be other elements, new stuff, supernatural things that affect the plot. It is fundamentally a world in which society has collapsed and the dead come back as mindless monsters. Adding other supernatural elements sounds hardly like a problem to me. If anything, I can see only good in this reconceptualization, because it sounds like something that can give you back the thrill of writing Monument and that is the most important thing here. I don't want you struggling to write a story you are bored by, at the same time I want to see more of the story I have grown to love and if both can be achieved, then by all means, you shouldn't ask for our opinion, you should just do it. Top of that, I could see this really spicing things up quite a bit. We know what to expect of the Walking Dead setting. Our heroes will continue to struggle, fighting against zombies and other survivors, some will die, others will survive but things won't fundamentally change from how they are right now and it likely won't be anything groundbreaking. But add, let's say for example, magic to the plot? Superpowers? Suddenly, things become a serious lot less predictable and no matter how I look at it, and trust me, when it comes to the story I always put a lot of thought into my comments, I cannot see a single point speaking against the change you just proposed. It seems like a way to make a story I already love to bits even more exciting and it seems to be something that helps you with staying motivated to write it, so yeah, this sounds like a wholeheartedly positive change.
Cross-posting this on Silicon and Monument.
Hey guys. I intended to write this yesterday, but the day got away from me. It's been a while… more, longer than I thought it has been. It was a wrong of me to leave you guys hanging for so long with no updates or continuations to either story. I'm sorry. Classes have taken the focus of my writing. History class has weekly writing assignments, and I've gotten a little carried away writing historical short stories for it. I'm also 40,000 words into that novel, which I suppose isn't much progress considering the length of my absence. While it's still unfinished, I can't help but consider it an accomplishment since it's longest thing I've ever written on own, without outside input, and with my own characters. It is truly awful, but as a first draft, I can't expect much else. I've been reading a ton still: I read 98 books last year, including A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings (hyped for book 3, but I'… [view original content]
Cross-posting this on Silicon and Monument.
Hey guys. I intended to write this yesterday, but the day got away from me. It's been a while… more, longer than I thought it has been. It was a wrong of me to leave you guys hanging for so long with no updates or continuations to either story. I'm sorry. Classes have taken the focus of my writing. History class has weekly writing assignments, and I've gotten a little carried away writing historical short stories for it. I'm also 40,000 words into that novel, which I suppose isn't much progress considering the length of my absence. While it's still unfinished, I can't help but consider it an accomplishment since it's longest thing I've ever written on own, without outside input, and with my own characters. It is truly awful, but as a first draft, I can't expect much else. I've been reading a ton still: I read 98 books last year, including A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings (hyped for book 3, but I'… [view original content]
I do feel sorry and guilty for leaving you guys for so long, but I'll try to turn those feelings toward something productive—and to use them so as not to repeat this.
And you're reaction to this is such a relief! But as I said to Agent in the other thread, I'm not going to go too crazy. I want to use other genres and supernatural elements to augment the plot, not replace it. It will remain a human story, a human drama, set to the backdrop of a zombie apocalypse. I was already planning to get a little out there with Daniel's story, which is exploring the plot through the eyes of the young and disturbed, but still wholly impressionable, boy. If you recall, through his perspective, I did a lot of personifying of things, like the field, the room he thought was 100% haunted. Will these be the disillusions of a disturbed, imaginative boy, or something greater? Time will tell. I'm also planning to reframe the Colorado flashbacks as a straight-up slasher (I've yet to decide whether that will carry over to the expedition's situation, once we return to it). But having leave to write what I want is just incredibly empowering. We'll see what I come up with. In the meantime, I gotta get back to writing!
Ah, first of all, welcome back in proper! First of all, don't be sorry. I think we are all just glad that you are back and that nothing bad … morehappened and that you and your family are feeling alright. That is the most important thing and if time on the forums has to be cut short for other stuff, then that is no shame, I guess it was just the long absence that rang some alarm bells.
When it comes to Silicon, I am excited for this. For sure I have to reread a couple stuff as well, some of my old theories and things like that, because it has been so long and I must admit, I might not fully know every detail anymore. Can't hurt and I am really glad the story will continue as it did. There is not much else I can say right now, other than that I am so much looking forward to get back to read the story and to learn more about what is going on there.
Now, onwards to Monument, those are less happy news. That being said, I am glad you don't plan on… [view original content]
Ah, yeah that is something I even already suspected, that these strange stuff from Daniel's viewpoint will be further explored. I mean, thing is, I am okay with both, going all out on the supernatural elements, or carefully adding just a handful of them. I love the story first and foremost, so no matter what you decide there, chances are good that I will like what you're doing. That being said, I do agree with you that the human element of the story is one of its most important aspects and keeping that as the focus cannot possibly be a bad thing.
Fell in love with N. K. Jemisin's Broken Earth series. Gonna start the third book as soon as possible. Highly, highly recommended.
Been writing short stories on the road to producing something publishable.
Experimenting with more, uh, saucy tales.
Catching up on reading for some classes that are starting soon (British Lit—just read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight & Beowulf, about to start The Canterbury Tales).
Reading Astrophysics for People in a Hurry for bookclub.
Also reading a never-ending stream of horror novels for my own pleasure.
But baby, I have not forgotten about motherfucking Monument for a damn minute. It's like a bad itch. One that I've tried to ignore. One that has, in the past, admittedly, died down enough for me to forget its existence. Well, recently, it's been incessant. This has led me to scratching that itch, off and on. But only Daniel's PoV. I'm ready to share what I've been working on off and on for the last few months, but the writing kind of piled up. So, rather than release a monstrous part all at once, I'll be posting little parts over the next week or two. Releasing it in a trickle, I think, will make it much more digestible. The fact that it is segmented into a number of scenes helps, too.
Last announcement: I'm removing the fifth act. As I have mentioned before, I have never had a long-term plan for Monument. In the beginning, I thought, Five acts sounds good! Better put five chapters in each, to mimic the Telltale formula! and started writing. Nothing filled these later chapters except for a few vague ideas for scenes—well, more two dimensional than that: images. Like I said, I did not have a plan then. But now, I do have a plan. That plan doesn't include a fifth act. Please don't think this means we're losing something: we're not. The best of those images will find a home in this act, the fourth act, the final act. What it really means is, I won't be twiddling my thumps and making filler. It means this act will have finality to it. It means the plot lines I have setup these last few chapters will progress, and ultimately, they will conclude in what will hopefully be satisfying, if emotional, ending.
Which also means the beginning of the end began, like, a year ago? Which is a little wild.
I finally got around to watching A New Frontier, and despite my mixed opinions on it, it's helped me find inspiration for Monument again. Not sure who's still following this story, but buckle up, you're in for a bumpy ride.
Daniel Martinez — Rosa Drive, Central Texas — 376 Days In — 16-06:
They buried the walker’s corpse behind the farmhouse, because, Daniel understood, it had once been human. It was right to do that. At least when you could. To show respect. There was already a cemetery behind the house. They buried the corpse next to three other plots that had been dug out and filled in with bodies, perhaps from the outbreak. Grass had grown over them. The only indications of their presence were telltale mounds in the earth.
When it was done, no one said anything in the way of a eulogy. Atlanta just stared at the fresh mound as if it was nothing more than a procession of problems. They’d come, hopefully, to the last of this round. “It broke through somewhere,” Atlanta said. “Gotta mend the fence.”
“We’ll walk it,” Ashley told her. And to Daniel, she said, “You. You get to mow.”
This was worrying. “Alone?” Daniel said.
“We showed you how.”
“I wanna come with you. Help you fix the fence.” Mainly he just didn’t want to mess things up, mowing on his own. What if he broke the mower? What if he hurt himself? What if he hit an animal? Oh god, what if—
Atlanta knelt to his level. “You can do this. Besides, to get to the fence we have to go in the field, and that’s just no place for you. You could step in a hole and break your ankle. We don’t have a doctor.”
Calvin, Daniel thought. It was bitter and lingering, like a penny in his mouth.
“There’s snakes to be concerned about,” Atlanta went on. “And mice.”
“And lions!” Ashley grabbed and tickled him as she growled the words. “And tigers and bears!”
He giggled and tried to hold on to his worries but lost his grip on it. “Okay,” he admitted, smiling and breathless after Ashley had finished. "I can do it.”
And he did it. His parents went off with a pair of pliers to twist the broken ends of the barb wire together. That was easy. Mowing the lawn, it turned out, was easy, too. The hard part was starting it, which his parents did for him before going off to deal with the fence. The mower did most of the work, dragging itself along while he directed it. He tried to keep his rows even, and did mostly well. He was in the backyard, almost finished with the job, when he heard the blades hit something that wasn’t grass and wasn’t a stick, that sounded fleshy. He panicked and let go of the bar and immediately the lawnmower died.
He worked up the courage to drag the lawnmower backward. Then he walked around it. He crouched, sifted through the cut grass, and then froze stock still.
There was a gray-scaled baby snake in the grass, cut into three pieces and mutilated.
Hnngh, Monument is back and it is already that rollercoaster of emotions I expect from it. Welcome back, Hope! Welcome back, Monument! You know me, I am beyond happy that you found the inspiration for the story again. It has, actually, been nearly a year since the last part, but I can assure you that there was not a time where I considered Monument to be anything else but my favourite story in this forum. As such, this return is most joyful. Of course, it comes with the downside of the fifth act not happening, but to be fair, I agree with your reasoning here. I mean, from what you say no actual plan has been scrapped, so this isn't bad. I just love the story so much that I could enjoy ten more acts and this being the final one feels odd, yet at the same time, an end, a conclusion, as bittersweet as the thought is, that sounds like a wild ride. I've been here from the very beginning, I'll be here to the very end and I can assure you, I am excited, so damn excited to read what you come up with for the epic finale.
Of course, there is concern as well, that usual concern of mine. What would I be if not super concerned? There's so much to happen in this act, even if I guess it'll be a long one. There's the Colorado crew and the weird and brutal events happening for them. There's the Laredo family, now split up into several smaller communities. Josie is pregnant, should be several months in by now and the doctor has been murdered. Of course, a professional doctor is not needed to deliver the child, but there are already risks and ah, I guess as happy as I still am for this pregnancy in general, the concern you expected initially has finally arrived. Can't wait to see her again and Jake, most likely the ones who were mentioned to arrive at Rosa Drive later on in an earlier part, and Jerry and Sasha and Maria when we get back to Colorado. And I guess, while I don't look forward for them, there's also quite probably going to be a reunion with Natalie, Freddie Gomez and that creepy guy who throws walker heads at his enemies, also from Colorado. Did I mention I'm glad neither Josie nor Jake are in Colorado? Think I did, but I doubt things will remain all fine and dandy in Texas either. This is the final act after all and I couldn't be more hyped, excited and concerned. Welcome back Hope, welcome back indeed.
And well, I am also quite intrigued by those chapter titles. The In Memoriam section is one I particularly dread. I sense feels, major feels there. The epilogue title is also one I am interested in. Oh my, I cannot wait to see what this is going to be all about. Ah, I cannot wait for new parts in general, this is great! Scary, yes, but great
Daniel Martinez — Rosa Drive, Central Texas — 376 Days In — 16-06:
They buried the walker’s corpse behind the farmhouse, because, Daniel … moreunderstood, it had once been human. It was right to do that. At least when you could. To show respect. There was already a cemetery behind the house. They buried the corpse next to three other plots that had been dug out and filled in with bodies, perhaps from the outbreak. Grass had grown over them. The only indications of their presence were telltale mounds in the earth.
When it was done, no one said anything in the way of a eulogy. Atlanta just stared at the fresh mound as if it was nothing more than a procession of problems. They’d come, hopefully, to the last of this round. “It broke through somewhere,” Atlanta said. “Gotta mend the fence.”
“We’ll walk it,” Ashley told her. And to Daniel, she said, “You. You get to mow.”
This was worrying. “Alone?” Daniel said.
“We showed you how.”
“I … [view original content]
Knew I could expect you! And yeah, things are going to be dicey regardless of every character's geographic location.
Glad the titles have your interest. It's way too early to talk about the In Memoriam section, but I'll say you sense rightly—it's going to be a major feels-punch.
Hnngh, Monument is back and it is already that rollercoaster of emotions I expect from it. Welcome back, Hope! Welcome back, Monument! You k… morenow me, I am beyond happy that you found the inspiration for the story again. It has, actually, been nearly a year since the last part, but I can assure you that there was not a time where I considered Monument to be anything else but my favourite story in this forum. As such, this return is most joyful. Of course, it comes with the downside of the fifth act not happening, but to be fair, I agree with your reasoning here. I mean, from what you say no actual plan has been scrapped, so this isn't bad. I just love the story so much that I could enjoy ten more acts and this being the final one feels odd, yet at the same time, an end, a conclusion, as bittersweet as the thought is, that sounds like a wild ride. I've been here from the very beginning, I'll be here to the very end and I can assure you, I am exci… [view original content]
Daniel Martinez — Rosa Drive, Central Texas — 376 Days In — 16-07:
He buried the snake in the cemetery. Like a secret, spoken into the earth and swallowed. Yet it still played on his conscious, and he cried alone on the porch. It was the first thing he had ever killed.
The smell of fresh-cut grass was heavy in the air. It climbed into his nostrils and tickled a memory. In the place of the openness of the fields, he saw in his mind’s eye a tight, urban sprawl, a small residential yard, and a man… or a woman, in any case someone he held dear, who was pushing around a lawnmower and filling the air with the same scent. Whether this was one occasion he was remembering, or an amalgamation of several, he didn’t know. But he recognized San Antonio when it crept into his thoughts, and he knew seemed to know his old parents, even if he didn’t know how they looked or what they were like.
It was the same with his sister. In his nightmares, it was the same with his brother, whose face was always locked in agony and whose body was, upon first inspection, covered in a writhing layer of black and yellow fur.
Memory led to nightmare. He shut his mind from the former to rid himself of the latter.
He sat on the porch and waited, tears drying to his face. He was patient. There was too much motion in the world for boredom, and in times of stillness, too much eeriness to be bored. He watched the wind rake the field. He listened to its shivering, rustling song. It was as if the field was trying to speak to him, only he didn’t know its language and couldn’t understand. What would it tell him?
About what had happened here. About every footfall in this place, starting with Daniel’s and finishing with the very first. About extinct animals he had no names for. About untrampled ground and prehistoric skies pouring rain and split with lightning.
He wanted to hear. Wanted to know. If only he could understand.
It baffled Daniel, in retrospect, that his parents had warned him away from the field. They had convinced him that it wasn’t evil, that it needed a friend and that he was to be that friend, and now they didn’t want him in it.
He was still trying to decipher its noises when he heard the pur of an engine, rising to a growl as it drew closer.
Hmmmm, it is lovely to have a new part so quickly after the last. I am excited about this. While the parts are short, this is just the right thing to make me really hyped for the chapter. Actually, I am even more hyped because of the ending. Cannot wait for the next part, that'll be great! Daniel as a PoV is slowly growing on me, as much as I'm never a huge fan of children PoV's to be fair. You really do a great job showing his thoughts and the effect this world had on his development becomes pretty obvious. A good thing he has Ashley and Atlanta, I don't want to imagine how bad things would have been for him on his own.
But ah, I am not ready for this act in general, am I? The In Memoriam is having me particularly on the edge, but this is the final act, so it's all going to be fair game. This is going to be one insane feels trip, this much I expect, but I don't think I am in any way prepared for it. Yet at the same time, the hype is honestly real and I cannot wait for the next part.
Daniel Martinez — Rosa Drive, Central Texas — 376 Days In — 16-07:
He buried the snake in the cemetery. Like a secret, spoken into the ea… morerth and swallowed. Yet it still played on his conscious, and he cried alone on the porch. It was the first thing he had ever killed.
The smell of fresh-cut grass was heavy in the air. It climbed into his nostrils and tickled a memory. In the place of the openness of the fields, he saw in his mind’s eye a tight, urban sprawl, a small residential yard, and a man… or a woman, in any case someone he held dear, who was pushing around a lawnmower and filling the air with the same scent. Whether this was one occasion he was remembering, or an amalgamation of several, he didn’t know. But he recognized San Antonio when it crept into his thoughts, and he knew seemed to know his old parents, even if he didn’t know how they looked or what they were like.
It was the same with his sister. In his nightmares, it wa… [view original content]
Daniel Martinez — Rosa Drive, Central Texas — 376 Days In — 16-08:
The truck stopped in the yard, and people climbed out of the cabin and the back end, and Daniel’s parents from the field emerged to greet them. The dog jumped out of the back end, and it was the only one to approach Daniel. Asher had called it Mutt, because it was a mutt, but Daniel wasn’t nearly so indifferent to names; he called it Adam Gooddog, at Keith’s suggestion. Adam Gooddog came up the steps and at Daniel in a flurry of kisses and sniffs and battered him with its tail. He petted it, then watched it as it went off to investigate its new home.
When Daniel looked up, he found that Josephine had been the first to climb the porch and reach him, the first to see that he’d been crying. He came to his feet. She touched his shoulder and smiled at him with concern. “Did something happen, Daniel?” she asked. “Are you okay?”
“Missed you, is all,” he lied, prettying up the lie with a genuine smile.
She didn’t question it. She pulled him into her in a hug, and he was pressed against her giant stomach. “Well, we’re here now, baby,” she said. He hugged her back, taking care to be especially gentle, since he was afraid she might pop or something, or the baby might die. Josephine cast her gaze over her shoulder, her smile undiminished. Daniel pulled away to see who was coming next. He was disappointed. It was Natalie.
Why did Calvin have to die?
As she climbed the steps, Daniel wondered this. It was like an open sore: tongued, worried, it had never healed. He had liked Calvin. Of course, he had been scared by him, too. By Doctor Calvin’s by the latex smell of him, by his power to declare him sick, as if his word finalized its reality. Yet his death rattled had Daniel. So suddenly, so unexpected, it had rattled everyone. Josephine especially, who had found him. But none more than Natalie.
After his death, Natalie had revealed to Josephine that Calvin had been her lover… whatever that meant… and that he had confided to her about heart conditions that he wanted kept secret because he was the only doctor and he was afraid they wouldn’t let him do his work if they knew. Daniel believed, along a few others, that Calvin had been murdered. But that didn’t make perfect sense: unless it was an outside attack, why destabilize your own community by killing your only doctor? The real explanation—a heart attack—disappointed him, and that disappointment carried over to how he viewed Natalie. She wasn’t a villain, conspirator, or anything of the like. She was on their side. That wasn’t as interesting.
But she knew a few things about pregnancies, having had one herself and having dogged Calvin into teaching her some things. They didn’t like each other much, Natalie and Josephine, but she was Josephine’s best hope of the baby being born alive and healthy.
So Daniel smiled at her, hiding half behind Josephine. Forced as his smile was, he had to keep Natalie close—at least for Josephine and the baby’s sake.
And for a wonder, Natalie smiled back. To summon such a show of friendless was no small feat. The bags beneath her eyes, the stiffness of her posture, spoke of a tiredness Daniel couldn’t begin to understand, not for a long time. The separation—splitting the Laredo community into six self-sufficient sub-communities, of which Rosa Drive was but one of them—was taking its toll on her.
“Hello, Daniel,” Natalie said to him, almost sighing the words. She leaned against the porch rail to rest.
Josephine turned Daniel by the shoulders toward the steps and the truck. “Go on, little man,” she said. “They could use your muscle.”
He nodded and scampered off.
They were waiting there, his parents and Keith and Lindsay and Jake who were unloading the truck and an old man named Jefferson who was leaning on a cane and standing off to the side watching the cloudy horizon. Daniel walked past him and joined in the labor.
I have waited for this part for ages Josie, my Josie, it has been so long! And I can't properly put into words how glad I am that she and the others have arrived at last. If I remember correctly, the last time we saw any of them has been the christmas special 2016, which feels so crazy long ago, even if the part itself remains one of my absolute favourites. As such, I was hyped for this part, because I had the strong feeling they'd arrive soon. I had it even before Monument went into hiatus, so the long wait was particularly gruelling on these regards.
But it was definitely a super intriguing part even beyond my obvious and not-even-all-that-biased joy about seeing Josie again. The revelations here have been surprising and made me think. Before mentioning the elephant in the room, I see most of the characters we know are here at Rosa Drive. I expected Josie and Jake and could have guessed Keith and Lindsay, but was less sure about Jefferson and Natalie. I'll get to the latter in a moment. This means, the only ones missing are Stephen, Freddie Gomez and Tommy. The latter of these three is someone I cannot remember at all. Could you give me a reminder of when we last saw him? I remember Stephen fondly, Freddie Gomez not so much and while I'd take the former over Natalie, I'd be glad to not have the latter appear again. However, I have to wonder just if we'll see them again. The ones we have here are definitely the essentials, my all-time favourites (and Zoidberg Natalie) all together. While it has been marvelous to see them all again and I cannot wait for more, I must admit that I am also deeply concerned. Because something is going to happen and I don't like the chances a pregnant woman has to get out of this alive. I wonder how far along we are with Josie's pregnancy. This is the 13th month after the apocalypse and I remember Josie only learned about her pregnancy around the tenth at earliest, probably closer to the 11th. That means she's somewhere around the 4-5th month at latest, I believe, but if I am wrong there, clarification would be great.
Now, Natalie. Natalie, I am not sure what to do with her. I have to admit, the revelation here shocked me quite badly and not only from a strictly in-story perspective. See, so far I did not trust Natalie. In a way, I shared Daniel's opinion on her, I neither liked nor trusted her in any capacity. It was easy, she was the newcomer we barely knew, she had a strong motive to hate the core group for their involvement with Jerry and I think it has even been implied that she might knew about his survival, though that might have been in-character speculation by our heroes. So yeah, it was easy to see her as the bad guy here, the culprit behind Calvin's death and the one who plots the destruction of Laredo through her plan of splitting the community up (and I am really not fond of that one still). Of course, there never has been any evidence, but in the narrative, she seemed to fit the role perfectly. Now I have to wonder, perhaps we have all been too quick to judge. In that case however, I believe it was absolutely intended by you to make us distrust her until the revelations of this part and if that is the truth, well, then I gotta admit, that was genius. Playing with the paranoia to be expected by the readers at this point to present us the perfect culprit, only to have her turn out to be shockingly ordinary, just a normal person with normal relationships, perhaps not particularly likeable but certainly no villain. If Natalie told the truth here, then she is not behind the death of Calvin and that in turn makes her being Josie's best hope quite literally true. Now I face the possibility that this woman I so deeply disliked might actually be the one to save Josie's life and I do not know how to feel about it, especially as a remnant of distrust still lingers around.
Of course, Natalie could have lied. She could have made the whole story about Calvin's heart condition, believable and likely as it sounds, up, but I gotta ask myself just why she'd do that. I had this brief theory that she is so disturbed after the death of her baby (if I remember correctly) that she harbours such a strong, irrational resentment of Josie that she wants to try anything to prevent her from having the somewhat happy (well, at least positive) end she deserves by killing her and taking her child by force. But here's the thing, as much as I distrust Natalie, this theory simply makes zero sense. By the time Calvin died, Josie herself didn't even know about her pregnancy. Natalie somehow being her best and potentially only hope of delivering her child, maybe even of seeing it growing up, that could have only been a complete coincidence. By the time Calvin died, nobody could have known, therefore there is no reason to murder Calvin only to get closer to Josie. With the chapter title and our general paranoia, I believe everyone has been convinced that Calvin has been murdered, but now it turns out, maybe this was all a red herring, a trick to toy with our expectations. If this is the truth I gotta say, well played. So, there still is the possibility that Natalie is some evil mastermind, that she is lying and manipulating everyone to get her revenge. However, this would rely on so many if's and unless' that with honest shock, I have to admit it is simply deeply unlikely. For all the grandiose theories and speculations, the fact that Calvin's death might have been natural never even crossed me. It is so shockingly likely that I still have a hard time believing it. Natalie's version might be a bit too compelling, but it is actually highly possible. In that case (and actually, even in the case of Natalie being ill-intentioned towards the main group), I can only hope that despite her established dislike towards Josie, she ends up having enough sympathy for the mother-to-be that she is indeed going to save her life and that of the baby. It'd be Clarice all over again, but considering how much farther Josie has come since then and how much more is at stake here, I must say that I find it infinitely harder to trust Natalie, while simultaneously hoping that she is actually not the insane supervillain I previously painted her as. This alone brings me to the edge of my seat for this final act, but I am certain there's more to come. And save to say, I am already in purest Monument mode.
By the way, beyond my previous questions, there's one more. I was wondering, could you tell us where Rosa Drive is located? Like, how far away from Laredo is it and how close are the other communities? Will there be contact between them, sort of like in the comics with the four communities after the war against Negan, or will they all fend for themselves?
Daniel Martinez — Rosa Drive, Central Texas — 376 Days In — 16-08:
The truck stopped in the yard, and people climbed out of the cabin and… more the back end, and Daniel’s parents from the field emerged to greet them. The dog jumped out of the back end, and it was the only one to approach Daniel. Asher had called it Mutt, because it was a mutt, but Daniel wasn’t nearly so indifferent to names; he called it Adam Gooddog, at Keith’s suggestion. Adam Gooddog came up the steps and at Daniel in a flurry of kisses and sniffs and battered him with its tail. He petted it, then watched it as it went off to investigate its new home.
When Daniel looked up, he found that Josephine had been the first to climb the porch and reach him, the first to see that he’d been crying. He came to his feet. She touched his shoulder and smiled at him with concern. “Did something happen, Daniel?” she asked. “Are you okay?”
“Missed you, is all,” he lied, prettying up th… [view original content]
Daniel Martinez — Rosa Drive, Central Texas — 376 Days In — 16-08:
The truck stopped in the yard, and people climbed out of the cabin and… more the back end, and Daniel’s parents from the field emerged to greet them. The dog jumped out of the back end, and it was the only one to approach Daniel. Asher had called it Mutt, because it was a mutt, but Daniel wasn’t nearly so indifferent to names; he called it Adam Gooddog, at Keith’s suggestion. Adam Gooddog came up the steps and at Daniel in a flurry of kisses and sniffs and battered him with its tail. He petted it, then watched it as it went off to investigate its new home.
When Daniel looked up, he found that Josephine had been the first to climb the porch and reach him, the first to see that he’d been crying. He came to his feet. She touched his shoulder and smiled at him with concern. “Did something happen, Daniel?” she asked. “Are you okay?”
“Missed you, is all,” he lied, prettying up th… [view original content]
I expected Josie and Jake and could have guessed Keith and Lindsay, but was less sure about Jefferson and Natalie. I'll get to the latter in a moment. This means, the only ones missing are Stephen, Freddie Gomez and Tommy. The latter of these three is someone I cannot remember at all. Could you give me a reminder of when we last saw him? I remember Stephen fondly, Freddie Gomez not so much and while I'd take the former over Natalie, I'd be glad to not have the latter appear again.
Freddie Gomez peeped on Josephine in, like, Chapter 11. It was a speculated that his behavior was "innocent" enough, because he is ten years old. When we left that plot thread, I believe Josephine was planning to confront him and set him straight. We'll learn more about that in the next chapter.
There's not much to Tommy. Firstly, he shouldn't be confused to Tom, Domenick's brother, who was a part of the Colorado expedition. Tommy was a very minor character in Chapter 11/12, a guard who helped Atlanta and Ashley when the storm caused a tree to fall on a section of Laredo's wall. He will probably appear in the next chapter. Not sure if he'll be fleshed out.
On Natalie:
Maybe she's hiding that there was more to Calvin's death. Maybe she isn't. If you look at the evidence, I think it's more likely she is earnest and truthful. One of the biggest things going for Natalie's innocence is her conduct. You can tell a lot about a person based on how they behave. Jerry was the murderer of her child, even if it wasn't precisely intentional, and he was the murderer of many from Zafir's former mall group, the survivors of which made up, like, more than half of Laredo's population. When Natalie discovered Jerry was still alive, she could have told everyone with a bone to pick with Jerry that he was alive and have formed a mob and have him lynched and then she probably could have consolidated power with the liked-minded council members, kick Josephine and Jake off the council for hiding Jerry, and taken over Laredo. Yet she didn't do anything of these things. There's one thing she'd interested in: survival. And what she service to be the best method to achieve this? Organized, stable community. Rather than potentially destabilize Laredo by killing Jerry or pulling a coup, she approached Josephine in private, and together, they reached a solution, which was to send Jerry along with the Colorado expedition. Is the road dangerous? Yes. Could she be harboring the hope he died along the way? Possibly. But revenge—in her mind, perfectly describable as justice—is not assured. Frankly, and understandably, we're all a little Jerry-bias—if any other character not of the main cast had done what he did, and had done it to the characters we love (say, they had killed Josephine's child rather than Natalie's), we would be calling for their death. Obviously, people are subjective in their prejudices. But if we looked at these situation objectively, Natalie is... the good guy, or at least the wronged party. So look at this way: she put Laredo—a hundred people, her adopted son, every one of our favorite characters, who she doesn't see eye to eye with and has every right to hate—above her personal revenge. Is it still in her power to harm the characters we love? I suppose. But it ultimately, it isn't in her best interest, or in her adopted son's best interest, or the community's, and she realizes this. That kind of well-reasoned, detached selflessness of hers is one of the reasons she's becoming a favorite character of mine to write.
By the way, beyond my previous questions, there's one more. I was wondering, could you tell us where Rosa Drive is located? Like, how far away from Laredo is it and how close are the other communities? Will there be contact between them, sort of like in the comics with the four communities after the war against Negan, or will they all fend for themselves?
It's not "every community for itself." They're sub-communities, limbs of the same entity, Josephine, Jake, and Natalie's community being what we could be call the torso. There will be some contact between them, like the communities in the comics. However, I should add, these communities won't be the focus of the story. And to be honest, I haven't given a ton of thought to their locations relative to each other. They're close by, to be sure. I'll define their locations more in the future. I might make a map for a visual representation.
I have waited for this part for ages Josie, my Josie, it has been so long! And I can't properly put into words how glad I am that she and t… morehe others have arrived at last. If I remember correctly, the last time we saw any of them has been the christmas special 2016, which feels so crazy long ago, even if the part itself remains one of my absolute favourites. As such, I was hyped for this part, because I had the strong feeling they'd arrive soon. I had it even before Monument went into hiatus, so the long wait was particularly gruelling on these regards.
But it was definitely a super intriguing part even beyond my obvious and not-even-all-that-biased joy about seeing Josie again. The revelations here have been surprising and made me think. Before mentioning the elephant in the room, I see most of the characters we know are here at Rosa Drive. I expected Josie and Jake and could have guessed Keith and Lindsay, but was less sure about Jeffers… [view original content]
Freddie Gomez peeped on Josephine in, like, Chapter 11. It was a speculated that his behavior was "innocent" enough, because he is ten years old. When we left that plot thread, I believe Josephine was planning to confront him and set him straight. We'll learn more about that in the next chapter.
Aye, I do remember him! So, he will appear again, huh? I gotta admit, I am nervous about that. Sure, there's the chance that he is actually just an innocent kid, that all this time I have been distrustful towards one of the least dangerous characters in the story. At the same time, loss of innocence has been sort of a theme, most prominently featured in Daniel, but to a certain degree Santiago (at least before his death) and Josie herself (in growing from a woman barely out of her teens into a leader and expectant mother). So, I gotta ask myself, how innocent can Freddie Gomez actually be? Though to be fair, him not being innocent is not the same as him being outright dangerous, but I don't think it has ever been a bad thing to be wary.
There's not much to Tommy. Firstly, he shouldn't be confused to Tom, Domenick's brother, who was a part of the Colorado expedition. Tommy was a very minor character in Chapter 11/12, a guard who helped Atlanta and Ashley when the storm caused a tree to fall on a section of Laredo's wall. He will probably appear in the next chapter. Not sure if he'll be fleshed out.
I really can't say I remember him at all. I know he's not Tom from the Colorado group, that one actually left a bit more of an impression on me, but Tommy seems like the most minor character in the entire story. Hell, even Kurt left more of an impression on me but that was mostly because I just cannot get the hilarious image of him being, well, literally Nightcrawler, out of my head again
Maybe she's hiding that there was more to Calvin's death. Maybe she isn't. If you look at the evidence, I think it's more likely she is earnest and truthful. One of the biggest things going for Natalie's innocence is her conduct. You can tell a lot about a person based on how they behave. Jerry was the murderer of her child, even if it wasn't precisely intentional, and he was the murderer of many from Zafir's former mall group, the survivors of which made up, like, more than half of Laredo's population. When Natalie discovered Jerry was still alive, she could have told everyone with a bone to pick with Jerry that he was alive and have formed a mob and have him lynched and then she probably could have consolidated power with the liked-minded council members, kick Josephine and Jake off the council for hiding Jerry, and taken over Laredo. Yet she didn't do anything of these things. There's one thing she'd interested in: survival. And what she service to be the best method to achieve this? Organized, stable community. Rather than potentially destabilize Laredo by killing Jerry or pulling a coup, she approached Josephine in private, and together, they reached a solution, which was to send Jerry along with the Colorado expedition. Is the road dangerous? Yes. Could she be harboring the hope he died along the way? Possibly. But revenge—in her mind, perfectly describable as justice—is not assured. Frankly, and understandably, we're all a little Jerry-bias—if any other character not of the main cast had done what he did, and had done it to the characters we love (say, they had killed Josephine's child rather than Natalie's), we would be calling for their death. Obviously, people are subjective in their prejudices. But if we looked at these situation objectively, Natalie is... the good guy, or at least the wronged party. So look at this way: she put Laredo—a hundred people, her adopted son, every one of our favorite characters, who she doesn't see eye to eye with and has every right to hate—above her personal revenge. Is it still in her power to harm the characters we love? I suppose. But it ultimately, it isn't in her best interest, or in her adopted son's best interest, or the community's, and she realizes this. That kind of well-reasoned, detached selflessness of hers is one of the reasons she's becoming a favorite character of mine to write.
Phew, this is quite a complex situation. I must say, if this is actually the full story, then Natalie is the biggest Red Herring ever. Because she would have been the perfect culprit, all down to the motive. I must say, from her position I can even understand her feelings towards Jerry. Objectively, I think the ones truly at fault have been Zafir, for his policy of forcing survivors into his group, which was what led to Jerry having to take drastic measures to free himself, as well as Trevor and his friends for being the ones to start the situation by abducting Josie and Lindsay. But there is no denying that Jerry himself is majorly responsible for the destruction of Zafir's community and well, Zafir and Trevor got what they deserved so he's the only one left for her to be angry at. Objectively, the only thing the rest of the group did was that they kept Jerry's survival a secret, first from Zafir who was clearly on the edge of losing his mind and then from the rest of his group. What they did was protecting a friend, someone who saved each and every one of them. I hope that not even Natalie can hold that against them, justified as her anger towards Jerry may be. I doubt anyone would have acted differently if it was them instead of the Harvest Hills group. The majority of them, minus Jerry, is innocent in this and there shouldn't be a reason to hate them. Disliking them however, aye, I can't even blame Natalie for that. And the more I think about it, the more I am willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. Her version of the story is shockingly simple. There doesn't need to be a needlessly complex murder-revenge plot of hers going on. The far more likely explanation actually seems to be that this is the truth, that Calvin had a heart attack, that Natalie placed the needs of her people above her own desires and is now working with our heroes, even to the point of being willing to support Josephine during her pregnancy. You are absolutely right there, you know me too well. Would their roles be reversed, would, by any chance, Jerry even end up having caused the death of Josie's child, you know I would cry havoc. I would never forgive him or any other character involved in it. My bias is as real as it is undeniable and it is exactly this that led me to distrust Natalie in the first place, to assume the worst of her because were their roles reversed, I'd do the exact same thing I accused her of. Objectively, she has reason to hate Jerry, she even has a right to take revenge on him, even if I think the rest of the group should be considered innocent in his actions. The fact that everything points towards her swallowing her pride and actually doing the right thing, down to the aspect that she seems to be willing to grant Josie, a woman she understandably does not like, the chance she never had, the chance to see her child grow up, that makes me honestly admire her a bit. I don't consider her to be a particularly likeable character in terms of her personality, but that might just be due to her being understandably cold and distant from pretty much anyone. It doesn't mean I cannot respect her and well, if she truly harbours no secret desires to harm our heroes while they are at their weakest, then I genuinely consider her the best chance they have to survive, which is a far cry from the possible threat I saw her as before this latest part. If this actually turns out to be the case, then she is probably the most misjudged character in the entire story, having it worse than Clarice or Jake before I grew to like them. Kudos, Hope, that Natalie situation is genuinely a complex one.
I expected Josie and Jake and could have guessed Keith and Lindsay, but was less sure about Jefferson and Natalie. I'll get to the latter in… more a moment. This means, the only ones missing are Stephen, Freddie Gomez and Tommy. The latter of these three is someone I cannot remember at all. Could you give me a reminder of when we last saw him? I remember Stephen fondly, Freddie Gomez not so much and while I'd take the former over Natalie, I'd be glad to not have the latter appear again.
Freddie Gomez peeped on Josephine in, like, Chapter 11. It was a speculated that his behavior was "innocent" enough, because he is ten years old. When we left that plot thread, I believe Josephine was planning to confront him and set him straight. We'll learn more about that in the next chapter.
There's not much to Tommy. Firstly, he shouldn't be confused to Tom, Domenick's brother, who was a part of the Colorado expedition. Tommy was a very minor charact… [view original content]
I forgot to mention this until now (been so busy with classes and packing), but I'm going to Utah! To Zion National Park! I'm really excited! I'll be gone for about a week. Though most of the next parts are written, I need to take the time to revise a few aspects, and I don't have to the time to go that before I leave, so sadly I can't leave you guys with a parting part. That said, Monument will resume when I return! Also, this will be my first time visiting the Rocky Mountains, which should lend some authenticity to Colorado locals in this story!
As I'm sure all my readers know, TellTale's gone under and the future of the forums looks grim. It's possible that it could go down at any moment. No one know for certain. But the creatives of the forum got together and made a new forum, for stories and whatnot. So, Monument will go on, as well as Silicon. I will be cross-posting parts here and on the new forums, eventually transitioning completely to the new forum. Here's the link to the forum: http://creators-haven.boards.net/ And here's the link to Monument's board: http://creators-haven.boards.net/board/9/monument-walking-dead Without ado, here's the next continuation of Daniel's story!
Daniel Martinez — Rosa Drive, Central Texas — 376 Days In — 16-09:
The day passed slowly. They moved boxes of supplies and personal items from the truck into the rooms of the farm house. Lunch was made quickly, most eating standing up or plopping down wherever they could sit to wolf down their food so they could get back to the hustle of moving in. Jake and Atlanta and Adam Gooddog split off to evaluate the fence, while Keith and Lindsay and Ashley and Daniel moving the remaining boxes and unpacking, and Natalie saw to Josephine’s comfort, sitting her down in the living room with Philip the Cat for company before Natalie, too, got back to unpacking and shelving canned goods. Jefferson had retreated to his room to rest.
By the time evening rolled round, and the sun began to set, everyone but the cat was dog tired. The dog was worn out, too. He had found a hare which he had chased to its hole; he had spent the last few hours of daylight trying to widen the hole to fit its body and failing and pacing around the hole whimpering. He came back sullen and disappointed when Daniel called him inside for his dog food. Daniel called him a dummy for getting bested by a hare but scratched him behind the ears to show that he didn’t really think it.
The dining room was alive with the sounds of talk and chair legs scraping the hardwood floor when Daniel got back. As he was about to claim a seat, a hand touched his shoulder. He looked up at Natalie.
“Would you bring Jefferson his meal?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said.
“And you better clean your hands before you come back.”
He nodded, grabbed the tray that the food was on, and took it into the hall. The further he got from the dining room, the darker it got, but the sounds behind him were loud, surely loud enough to keep the monsters away. So he proceeded through the dark with their sounds for company. He pressed the tray into his stomach so he could free one hand to open the door to Jefferson’s room, then entered. A few steps into the room, the door closed shut. Maybe most people would have jumped, or spun around, but Daniel locked up.
It was much darker in here. Frozen, he held his breath, listened. The blankets rustled in front and a figure sat up. Seconds later a flame clicked to life upon the old man’s lighter. Jefferson normally had a soft, kind face, but the flickering light filled his wrinkles with shadows and lent his expression a sinisterness that his smile could not quite redeem. The late hour seemed to have robbed Jefferson of some of his wits; normally clear and lucid, his eyes were now glassy with tiredness.
“That for me?” he said, in a Texan drawl. He lit a candle on the nightstand and put away the light.
Daniel inhaled, finally. “Yes, sir.”
“Well, hand it here.” Daniel passed it over and then stood there with his arms slank at his side. Jefferson stirred the beans. Tasted the rice. Bobbed his head, as if in approval. He looked up at Daniel again. “You waitin’ for me to dismiss you or what?”
“Uh...”
“It’s alright, boy. Thank you. You mind gettin’ me a glass of water?”
“Uh, sure.” He scurried out. Scurried back. As he entered again, he left the door standing and watched to see if it would do anything. It did nothing.
“Something peculiar ‘bout that door?” Jefferson said as he chewed.
“Nothing. I just thought…”
“That it, what, closed on its own?”
“Yeah.”
“Possible it did.”
Water sloshed against the rim of the glass. “Really?”
“Give me that glass before you drop it and I’ll tell you.” Jefferson took the glass and patted the mattress beside him. Daniel climbed up, and as he looked back, the door clicked shut, the cutting the sounds of the volume of the others in half. The candle couldn’t illuminate the whole room, and darkness crouched in the corners, on the floor, and up at the ceiling. “Well,” Jefferson, chewing some more, dragging Daniel’s attention to him, “it probably just fell shut. But you can’t know, can you?”
“No?”
“You can’t. Not for sure.” He spooned more rice into his mouth. “Not when the dead walk the earth. You can ascribe it all to science and fiddlin’ with the gene and viruses and what not but you can’t know for sure. Could be that heaven and hell are overflowin’ and we’re gettin’ the run off. Could be that the devil or god or whoever got tired of people and hung up their hats. But you can’t know that either. When you’re in the dark, when you’re ignorant to the inner workings, you gotta walk on with all possibilities in your head and the possibility that none of them are true and that the truth remains untapped. Maybe when the dead are done walkin’ again they start hauntin’. Maybe these are stages to some metamorphosis that we don’t know the full scope of. Could be. Could be. Baby, to adult, to” —he laughed— “ hobbling olddie, to dead, to undead, to ghost, to whatever next. Maybe full circle, then. Ghost, to baby again, or an animal depending on your karma, which is the good and bad you did in your life. Reincarnation. That’s a Hindu belief. Or maybe the stages of life and death go on and on. But no human on this earth knows.” He quoted: “‘Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.’ John 5:28-29. That’s from the bible. That’s my book.” Tapping his plate with his silverware to produce eight thin clinks, the old man paused to mull over something. “I’m a Christian man,” he continued. “Be good and kind and helpful to others and I believe you get to go to heaven and be happy forever. I don’t like the idea of hell. Don’t think most people deserve it. None of these people came back because they were evil. No, sir. Anyway. You’re young, so you probably don’t know, but there was a war. A long war. A war no one really liked—that is, if you can say there was a war anyone really liked. Anyway, if I learned anything from fightin’ that war it’s that you can shoot problems away if they’re flesh and blood, you can shoot these here walkers, but if they come back without their meat, you’re up a creek. You can’t shoot the dark, boy. You can’t shoot nightmares or poltergeists. You can’t shoot the dark.”
Daniel emerged from the bedroom as if from a fever dream. His mind was reeling with so many unfamiliar names and concepts that he had forgotten his hunger. Well, for as long as it took him to get back to the dining room. There, the smell of the food and the merriment brought him back to the world. A placed had been made for him at the table, and a plate had been filled. He sat, and ate, and deliberately left the world again to think about what Jefferson had said. Jake and his parents were spitballing solutions to make the farm more defensible, but Daniel was too busy going mental gymnastics to care much about sheet metal or trenches. Half of what the old man had said seemed like nonsense. And the other half? Stuff that bordered on nonsense. Heaven, hell, metamorphing whatever, karma, reincarnation, poltergeists. But it all had an affect on Daniel. His takeaways were these: that he should maybe avoid talking to Jefferson when he’s tired and rambling and a little frightening, and that there was no way to attack a ghost physically. It occurred to him, then, as he finished his food, that while you couldn’t attack what wasn’t there, there might still be ways to defend yourself.
Daniel did not want them to leave. They had to, though. Natalie’s community—the largest of the six, perhaps what you might call the central nervous system of their setup—depended on her. She couldn’t be away for a whole night. And Josephine had to stick with her. Jake would not have left his wife’s side for the old world. So it was that they gathered by the doorway and gave sleepy goodbye hugs and kisses.
Daniel was not sleepy. He was scared, but did his best to hid it. He was terribly conscious of the fact that with each leave-taking they were likely more vulnerable to the forces at work in the house. Still, he said his goodbyes, told them he loved them, gave his hugs, kept himself from crying. After a moment of debate, he hugged Natalie and told her thank you—love you would not have fit, but he was definitely thankful for her—but he made it brief, afraid a hug any longer would make her mad. As it stood, it seemed to have been just long enough. She moved the hair out of his eyes, which was perhaps her verison of hair ruffling: instead of making chaos of his head, she put it in order. He had received an affectation from her, and he liked her more for it.
Then, bedtime.
He had his covers over himself, like a cocoon. The house around him, too—in a way, an even greater cocoon.
Could mere walls protect against the great expanse of night outside? What good did they do against what was inside?
Probably nothing. Walls were a deterrent against physical things, like people and walkers. A ghost could move through them.
He listened to the wind and the house’s interior noises for a long time before he fell asleep.
Mei Xia—a Chinese woman residing in Colorado Springs, Colorado, ten months into the apocalypse—is doing her nightly run, which takes her close to the wall, where she stumbles across a body of guard. Evidently, he was murdered—stabbed and then pushed off from the wall, down into the community. Mei, noticing that his assault rifle is missing, suspects she is in the murderer’s sights. Feigning ignorance, that she did not see the body, she calmly jogs on. When she thinks she’s safe, she alters her route and heads to the police precinct to report the murder. She is certain, as she runs, that it is going to be a long night.
Colorado Springs — 302 days in — 16-10:
Mei Xia
Sometimes—hell, even Mei had to admit to herself—you miscalculate. You expect one thing, you get another. This was her expectation when she went to the police: She would be stuck in a room until morning, relating every detail of her encounter, down to the littlest, over and over again, while the officers, who were stalling to keep her there, would take their sweet time to examine the validity of her claims, secure the crime scene, and rule her out as a suspect. Then she would be freed, and the sun would be up, and she would have to find someone to fill in for her at her guard post. She thought, as she neared the precinct, she was in for a long night. She had no idea it would be her longest, and the dawn hours especially—those would feel the longest of all.
No stranger to bureaucratic slowness—having been a government agent in China before she immigrated—she weathered the slog of questions and paperwork better than any of the officers. Which perhaps reflected poorly on her, what with her calm demeanor and total composure. These American men, they could not comprehend a picture of femininity like hers. That she was not in tears or at least visibly shaken struck by the sight of a dead body struck them as suspicious, nevermind the fact that they were in the midst of an apocalypse; sexists never moved sexism to the backburner. They kept her in a room, and after long boring intervals of isolation, someone would come in to question her before leaving her again. As the night went on, this route began to annoy her. She regretted her approach now. She wished she had put on an act in the beginning, just to get to bed sooner. Not that her stamina was flagging. She had counter-interrogation training. The police were amateurs at best.
But eventually, they stopped coming, and annoyance brimmed over to exasperation. An hour passed by herself—the longest interval of isolation yet—and then another. It had to be six in the morning. She sighed. She stood and tested the doorknob. Finding it unlocked, she poked her head through, prepared to play clueless if it meant this would be over. Yet there was no one in the hall. She wandered from the area given over to witness processing and holding, into another section of the building. A man in uniform dashed past her, without remarking upon her unaccompanied presence. He was gone around the corner before she could call him to tell her what was happening.
Evidenced by the general disorder of the desks, the officers had made a hasty response. Such an urgent matter, too, for no one was left to hold down the fort, at least as far as Mei could tell. She found her way to the lobby, and out the front doors. The sun wasn’t up yet, but to the north, the dark clouds glowed a fluctuating red. An incense of smoke-tainted the air she breathed.
A fire. Well, the police’s disregard for her made sense now—a fire demanded everyone’s full attention effort if they had any hope of fighting it. Mei couldn’t argue. Her apartment lay in that direction, and judging the light on the clouds alone could not assure her that her home wasn’t also in flames.
Mei studied a speaker that was mounted to a nearby streetlight. It should have been screaming at her. It loomed silent instead. Odd. Could be it was broken. But this did not seem to be the issue, because, in any case, she should have heard the fire alarm anyway. The speakers were loud by design and strewn plentifully about the city, yet the only sound the wind carried was of distant shouts. Somehow, the whole system was down. It reeked of sabotage. Perhaps it was in her wiring to jump to fantastic conclusions. She was more inclined to believe her instincts, which told her thus:
They were under attack.
In which case time was short. She had to assume that the slain guard, the fire, and the broken PA system were of one systematic assault on the community, and that swiftly or at the leisurely pace of the self-assured, more would follow. In her mind, it was a question of if so much as when. The people of the Colorado Springs were a hardy bunch, but save for the large military population, they lacked the preparation to deal with an attack on the inside, and even then, Mei knew of no plan among its militant citizen beyond rolling with the punches and shooting back—some plan. If she wanted to live—and yes, she wanted to fucking live—she would have to tackle the problem of survival on her own terms.
She needed a weapon. Being a guard, she knew that she couldn’t get a gun from the police precinct; if they were diligent about one thing, it was keeping the gun room under lock and key. In any case, though she was well-trained in their use, she disliked guns. She preferred fighting hand-to-hand or with a melee weapon. A knife was unideal but doable. She wondered about her apartment. Not about her all possessions, lost to flames; she was not materialistic by nature. But about her bo staff. If there was one thing she wanted above else in her company, beyond competent people, one weapon that might see her through this, it was her bo staff. A few problems lay in the way of retrieving it, however: namely the fire, and the people who would be attempting to put it out. Not to mention that it might be wiser to count her loses, beat an early retreat before everyone realized how screwed they were, and pick up something along the way.
[Travel across the city, facing any number of obstacles and threats, to reach your apartment, to retrieve your bo staff.]
Comments
First, I'm extremely excited that this is returning.
While I haven't always been fond of Alex, this was a pretty good part.
I'm oddly relieved for Alex's current condition now that Ryan's around even though we don't know much about him, so I can only hope Ryan is helpful to Alex's mission.
Oh my gosh I loved that! The second I saw 'shaggy red hair' I was basically like "Holy shit, is that Ryan!?" Such a treat. Glad to see you're back for now.
Ooooh, a new part, hell yes. This is a good day, a great day, I say! Just what I needed, a new part for my favourite story, I am so happy to see this. Also glad to hear that the account issues seem to have faded for now. If they come back, some have apparently solved their problems by switching to other browsers. But well, for now I am very happy to see this wonderful story active again. Has it really been three months? Crazy how times flies! I am so hyped to see Alex and eventually the Colorado group and, of course and always, my sweets at Rosa Drive. Ah, what is hype may never die
Now, out of Alex' parts, this one was my favourite so far, a great way of continuing the story after the break. Well, this was also quite the twist. We never knew anything of the guys chasing after the two that Alex encountered, so it was a pleasant surprise that their leader at least seems actually reasonable. Sure, we don't know too much about them yet, but there's worse first impressions that treating the wounds of a complete stranger and even though Alex promised them some massive profit, agreeing to support him is quite a decent streak as well. Ryan and his crew are possibly not what I'd consider good people, but decent as far as the post-apocalyptic society goes, I'd say they are this at least. Very excited to learn more about them.
So.... I know there hasn't been a part in a while and Hope hasn't even been online in over 3 months and that is all very concerning. I'm not sure what is going on, I hope he's alright. If you read this though, maybe an update or something in that direction would be welcome, because I at least am quite worried over the long silence.
That being said, today is Monument's third anniversary and even though it seems unclear when it'll continue, I think it is in order to thank Hope for this wonderful work he did here. I can only hope it will continue one day, preferrably soon, or that we at least know that Hope is alright, but even if not, the story is still near and dear to my heart and deserves being remembered as the amazing work that it is. There is really so much I can say, I don't think I'd ever get tired of praising this story and the feels it gave me, but with its future currently seeming uncertain, I'll hold back for the moment. For now, what is most important is that Hope is alright, so, Hope, if you read this, please let us know what is going on, I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we are concerned.
I can only echo what Liquid said, I’m quite concerned. It’s a good thing that Minument reached its third anniversary, Hope's absence is more than concerning.
Hope, if something’s going on or you need help with something, please let us know. Even if you can’t give details, a simple “hey, I’m alright” is good enough.
You guys made me think he finally posted again. Anyways, I hope he is ok. I sent him a pm a couple weeks ago but he hasn't responded.
Yeah, same here, I've sent him a PM as well, a while ago even and I tried to contact him via his steam account, but he hasn't been online there in even longer when compared to his absence in the forums. So, I really don't know what is going on, if Hope will return, if he even is alright and that is certainly worrying me.
Cross-posting this on Silicon and Monument.
Hey guys. I intended to write this yesterday, but the day got away from me. It's been a while, longer than I thought it has been. It was a wrong of me to leave you guys hanging for so long with no updates or continuations to either story. I'm sorry. Classes have taken the focus of my writing. History class has weekly writing assignments, and I've gotten a little carried away writing historical short stories for it. I'm also 40,000 words into that novel, which I suppose isn't much progress considering the length of my absence. While it's still unfinished, I can't help but consider it an accomplishment since it's longest thing I've ever written on own, without outside input, and with my own characters. It is truly awful, but as a first draft, I can't expect much else. I've been reading a ton still: I read 98 books last year, including A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings (hyped for book 3, but I'm pacing myself). This year, my reading goal is 104 books; I'm at 40 so far, but counting I'm graphics novels this time, and that's given me a real boost.
Health-wise, I'm good. My family and I were sick off and on for much of December and January, but we're all much better now. I'm in a choir group now, which has been okay, and I recently joined a theater/improv group, which has been a lot of fun. I should say now that I'm going on a month-long trip in May up the east coast as the game end for my American history class. Bottom line is, I've been good but busy. That said, going forward I'm going to make time to return to an active presence on the forums, whether that's interacting on the forum itself, following other users' stories, or providing new parts to my own stories.
On the matter of Silicon County:
Since it's been so long, and since this story is somewhat convoluted, I'm going to reread what I've written because there are certain areas that I'm unclear on and possibly some stuff I've forgotten. Meanwhile, I'll be producing a summery so that my readers don't need to go to that same trouble. However, I will continue to post new parts—written from the point of view of a new character, whose perspective I was planning to introduce in chapter four. Moving it around shouldn't cause any problems. This way, the story can go on. Resuming with an unfamiliar perspective should also hopefully provide a good jumping on point. I'm writing on the new part. It should be finished in the near future.
On the matter of Monument to the Walking Dead:
In the past, I've voiced my problems with writing this story. Unfortunately, my disillusion has only grown. Zombies bore me now. I know that the human drama is important part, but it's the same with that, frankly. Never could get into The Walking Dead comic. The show lost my after season five. Though I still liked it, the game kind of lost me half through season two. But I fucking love season one of the Telltale game. I'm going to replay it soon in the hopes that I can recapture my enthusiasm for writing Monument.
In any case, I think I need to reconceptualize Monument, because I'm just not feeling it. I'm sorry, but I don't think I can continue to write it as I have been. In own my opinion—which may or not be shared—it's too directionless, repetitive, and it uses too many cliches of the franchise. Death is also cheap and pointless in the story. Characters die to clear the roster. I know I have a much more cynical view on the story, but something needs to change. Again, I've promised not to cancel it, and I'm keeping to my word. I also don't want to ditched the current plot threads. I think I will pick up the current plots threads, but ditch my old plans and come up with something that I would want to write. I would like to hear your thoughts on this.
I have one question in particular to ask of everyone. Besides being fan fiction and copying the mechanics of the zombie virus, Monument has few connections to The Walking Dead franchise. How would you feel if I moved further away from the source material? If I ventured into other genres of horror, such as fantasy or science fiction, if I gave Monument a more supernatural edge? Since I don't want to have a jarring/alienating tonal shift, I would have to be subtle/gradual with the introduction of such elements, but it would give me much more wriggle room and I think it would go a long way to curing my burnout of the story.
PS: I have more characters than I know what to do with, so I'm closing submissions on both stories. If anyone were planning to submit, message me; I'm more than willing to work something out. It's not that I'm opposed to new characters, just that I don't want to openly advertise for their submission anymore.
Ah, first of all, welcome back in proper! First of all, don't be sorry. I think we are all just glad that you are back and that nothing bad happened and that you and your family are feeling alright. That is the most important thing and if time on the forums has to be cut short for other stuff, then that is no shame, I guess it was just the long absence that rang some alarm bells.
When it comes to Silicon, I am excited for this. For sure I have to reread a couple stuff as well, some of my old theories and things like that, because it has been so long and I must admit, I might not fully know every detail anymore. Can't hurt and I am really glad the story will continue as it did. There is not much else I can say right now, other than that I am so much looking forward to get back to read the story and to learn more about what is going on there.
Now, onwards to Monument, those are less happy news. That being said, I am glad you don't plan on outright cancelling the story. From its beginnings three years ago, Monument has always been and likely will always be near and dear to my heart. Admittedly though, that is not because of the zombies. There are only so many stories you can tell when zombies are involved. It's a reason the genre itself is slowly burning out. The reason for my personal investment in Monument is the strong cast of characters that we have seen growing for years now, through all the hardships. As long as that won't change, neither will my excitement for the story. For that, it doesn't matter if they are specifically in the Walking Dead universe, or if you decide on adding other elements to the story. In my opinion, when it comes to a continuation of Monument it is the most important thing that you find a way that makes you excited to write the story. The passion you had in the early days, that is what makes your writing so captivating. Pardon my french, but compared to that, I couldn't give a rat's buttocks about staying true to the Walking Dead canon. That doesn't matter. I signed up for a Walking Dead fanfiction, but I stayed for so much more. If you feel like simply having zombies around is too repetitive, too predictable and it causes you to slowly lose interest in the story, then change it. It might have started as Walking Dead fanfiction, but you are the writer and no one else should have a say in the setting you wish to use. If you want the setting to expand, including other themes, other genres, things that don't exist in the source material, then go for it. Anything if it causes you to regain passion for the story. Frankly, the reason I stick with Monument is first and foremost your writing, the characters I've grown invested into and the thrill. Obviously, if the story continues the first won't change, because you remain the writer. The second won't change because you just confirmed you will keep the current plot threads (means the characters included). For the third meanwhile, it doesn't matter if the thrill comes from the struggle between survivors and zombies or if there happen to be other elements, new stuff, supernatural things that affect the plot. It is fundamentally a world in which society has collapsed and the dead come back as mindless monsters. Adding other supernatural elements sounds hardly like a problem to me. If anything, I can see only good in this reconceptualization, because it sounds like something that can give you back the thrill of writing Monument and that is the most important thing here. I don't want you struggling to write a story you are bored by, at the same time I want to see more of the story I have grown to love and if both can be achieved, then by all means, you shouldn't ask for our opinion, you should just do it. Top of that, I could see this really spicing things up quite a bit. We know what to expect of the Walking Dead setting. Our heroes will continue to struggle, fighting against zombies and other survivors, some will die, others will survive but things won't fundamentally change from how they are right now and it likely won't be anything groundbreaking. But add, let's say for example, magic to the plot? Superpowers? Suddenly, things become a serious lot less predictable and no matter how I look at it, and trust me, when it comes to the story I always put a lot of thought into my comments, I cannot see a single point speaking against the change you just proposed. It seems like a way to make a story I already love to bits even more exciting and it seems to be something that helps you with staying motivated to write it, so yeah, this sounds like a wholeheartedly positive change.
Glad to see you back bud. I'm happy to hear your life is good. As for the parts, i know these things take time. Don't worry we can wait
.
It's great to be back, bud! And thank you for your understanding!
I do feel sorry and guilty for leaving you guys for so long, but I'll try to turn those feelings toward something productive—and to use them so as not to repeat this.
And you're reaction to this is such a relief! But as I said to Agent in the other thread, I'm not going to go too crazy. I want to use other genres and supernatural elements to augment the plot, not replace it. It will remain a human story, a human drama, set to the backdrop of a zombie apocalypse. I was already planning to get a little out there with Daniel's story, which is exploring the plot through the eyes of the young and disturbed, but still wholly impressionable, boy. If you recall, through his perspective, I did a lot of personifying of things, like the field, the room he thought was 100% haunted. Will these be the disillusions of a disturbed, imaginative boy, or something greater? Time will tell. I'm also planning to reframe the Colorado flashbacks as a straight-up slasher (I've yet to decide whether that will carry over to the expedition's situation, once we return to it). But having leave to write what I want is just incredibly empowering. We'll see what I come up with. In the meantime, I gotta get back to writing!
Ah, yeah that is something I even already suspected, that these strange stuff from Daniel's viewpoint will be further explored. I mean, thing is, I am okay with both, going all out on the supernatural elements, or carefully adding just a handful of them. I love the story first and foremost, so no matter what you decide there, chances are good that I will like what you're doing. That being said, I do agree with you that the human element of the story is one of its most important aspects and keeping that as the focus cannot possibly be a bad thing.
So, been busy.
I'm graduating from my home school tomorrow.
About to get my driver's licensee.
Fell in love with N. K. Jemisin's Broken Earth series. Gonna start the third book as soon as possible. Highly, highly recommended.
Been writing short stories on the road to producing something publishable.
Experimenting with more, uh, saucy tales.
Catching up on reading for some classes that are starting soon (British Lit—just read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight & Beowulf, about to start The Canterbury Tales).
Reading Astrophysics for People in a Hurry for bookclub.
Also reading a never-ending stream of horror novels for my own pleasure.
But baby, I have not forgotten about motherfucking Monument for a damn minute. It's like a bad itch. One that I've tried to ignore. One that has, in the past, admittedly, died down enough for me to forget its existence. Well, recently, it's been incessant. This has led me to scratching that itch, off and on. But only Daniel's PoV. I'm ready to share what I've been working on off and on for the last few months, but the writing kind of piled up. So, rather than release a monstrous part all at once, I'll be posting little parts over the next week or two. Releasing it in a trickle, I think, will make it much more digestible. The fact that it is segmented into a number of scenes helps, too.
Last announcement: I'm removing the fifth act. As I have mentioned before, I have never had a long-term plan for Monument. In the beginning, I thought, Five acts sounds good! Better put five chapters in each, to mimic the Telltale formula! and started writing. Nothing filled these later chapters except for a few vague ideas for scenes—well, more two dimensional than that: images. Like I said, I did not have a plan then. But now, I do have a plan. That plan doesn't include a fifth act. Please don't think this means we're losing something: we're not. The best of those images will find a home in this act, the fourth act, the final act. What it really means is, I won't be twiddling my thumps and making filler. It means this act will have finality to it. It means the plot lines I have setup these last few chapters will progress, and ultimately, they will conclude in what will hopefully be satisfying, if emotional, ending.
Which also means the beginning of the end began, like, a year ago? Which is a little wild.
I finally got around to watching A New Frontier, and despite my mixed opinions on it, it's helped me find inspiration for Monument again. Not sure who's still following this story, but buckle up, you're in for a bumpy ride.
Daniel Martinez — Rosa Drive, Central Texas — 376 Days In — 16-06:
They buried the walker’s corpse behind the farmhouse, because, Daniel understood, it had once been human. It was right to do that. At least when you could. To show respect. There was already a cemetery behind the house. They buried the corpse next to three other plots that had been dug out and filled in with bodies, perhaps from the outbreak. Grass had grown over them. The only indications of their presence were telltale mounds in the earth.
When it was done, no one said anything in the way of a eulogy. Atlanta just stared at the fresh mound as if it was nothing more than a procession of problems. They’d come, hopefully, to the last of this round. “It broke through somewhere,” Atlanta said. “Gotta mend the fence.”
“We’ll walk it,” Ashley told her. And to Daniel, she said, “You. You get to mow.”
This was worrying. “Alone?” Daniel said.
“We showed you how.”
“I wanna come with you. Help you fix the fence.” Mainly he just didn’t want to mess things up, mowing on his own. What if he broke the mower? What if he hurt himself? What if he hit an animal? Oh god, what if—
Atlanta knelt to his level. “You can do this. Besides, to get to the fence we have to go in the field, and that’s just no place for you. You could step in a hole and break your ankle. We don’t have a doctor.”
Calvin, Daniel thought. It was bitter and lingering, like a penny in his mouth.
“There’s snakes to be concerned about,” Atlanta went on. “And mice.”
“And lions!” Ashley grabbed and tickled him as she growled the words. “And tigers and bears!”
He giggled and tried to hold on to his worries but lost his grip on it. “Okay,” he admitted, smiling and breathless after Ashley had finished. "I can do it.”
And he did it. His parents went off with a pair of pliers to twist the broken ends of the barb wire together. That was easy. Mowing the lawn, it turned out, was easy, too. The hard part was starting it, which his parents did for him before going off to deal with the fence. The mower did most of the work, dragging itself along while he directed it. He tried to keep his rows even, and did mostly well. He was in the backyard, almost finished with the job, when he heard the blades hit something that wasn’t grass and wasn’t a stick, that sounded fleshy. He panicked and let go of the bar and immediately the lawnmower died.
He worked up the courage to drag the lawnmower backward. Then he walked around it. He crouched, sifted through the cut grass, and then froze stock still.
There was a gray-scaled baby snake in the grass, cut into three pieces and mutilated.
To be continued...
Hnngh, Monument is back and it is already that rollercoaster of emotions I expect from it. Welcome back, Hope! Welcome back, Monument! You know me, I am beyond happy that you found the inspiration for the story again. It has, actually, been nearly a year since the last part, but I can assure you that there was not a time where I considered Monument to be anything else but my favourite story in this forum. As such, this return is most joyful. Of course, it comes with the downside of the fifth act not happening, but to be fair, I agree with your reasoning here. I mean, from what you say no actual plan has been scrapped, so this isn't bad. I just love the story so much that I could enjoy ten more acts and this being the final one feels odd, yet at the same time, an end, a conclusion, as bittersweet as the thought is, that sounds like a wild ride. I've been here from the very beginning, I'll be here to the very end and I can assure you, I am excited, so damn excited to read what you come up with for the epic finale.
Of course, there is concern as well, that usual concern of mine. What would I be if not super concerned? There's so much to happen in this act, even if I guess it'll be a long one. There's the Colorado crew and the weird and brutal events happening for them. There's the Laredo family, now split up into several smaller communities. Josie is pregnant, should be several months in by now and the doctor has been murdered. Of course, a professional doctor is not needed to deliver the child, but there are already risks and ah, I guess as happy as I still am for this pregnancy in general, the concern you expected initially has finally arrived. Can't wait to see her again and Jake, most likely the ones who were mentioned to arrive at Rosa Drive later on in an earlier part, and Jerry and Sasha and Maria when we get back to Colorado. And I guess, while I don't look forward for them, there's also quite probably going to be a reunion with Natalie, Freddie Gomez and that creepy guy who throws walker heads at his enemies, also from Colorado. Did I mention I'm glad neither Josie nor Jake are in Colorado? Think I did, but I doubt things will remain all fine and dandy in Texas either. This is the final act after all and I couldn't be more hyped, excited and concerned. Welcome back Hope, welcome back indeed.
And well, I am also quite intrigued by those chapter titles. The In Memoriam section is one I particularly dread. I sense feels, major feels there. The epilogue title is also one I am interested in. Oh my, I cannot wait to see what this is going to be all about. Ah, I cannot wait for new parts in general, this is great! Scary, yes, but great
Knew I could expect you! And yeah, things are going to be dicey regardless of every character's geographic location.
Glad the titles have your interest. It's way too early to talk about the In Memoriam section, but I'll say you sense rightly—it's going to be a major feels-punch.
Daniel Martinez — Rosa Drive, Central Texas — 376 Days In — 16-07:
He buried the snake in the cemetery. Like a secret, spoken into the earth and swallowed. Yet it still played on his conscious, and he cried alone on the porch. It was the first thing he had ever killed.
The smell of fresh-cut grass was heavy in the air. It climbed into his nostrils and tickled a memory. In the place of the openness of the fields, he saw in his mind’s eye a tight, urban sprawl, a small residential yard, and a man… or a woman, in any case someone he held dear, who was pushing around a lawnmower and filling the air with the same scent. Whether this was one occasion he was remembering, or an amalgamation of several, he didn’t know. But he recognized San Antonio when it crept into his thoughts, and he knew seemed to know his old parents, even if he didn’t know how they looked or what they were like.
It was the same with his sister. In his nightmares, it was the same with his brother, whose face was always locked in agony and whose body was, upon first inspection, covered in a writhing layer of black and yellow fur.
Memory led to nightmare. He shut his mind from the former to rid himself of the latter.
He sat on the porch and waited, tears drying to his face. He was patient. There was too much motion in the world for boredom, and in times of stillness, too much eeriness to be bored. He watched the wind rake the field. He listened to its shivering, rustling song. It was as if the field was trying to speak to him, only he didn’t know its language and couldn’t understand. What would it tell him?
About what had happened here. About every footfall in this place, starting with Daniel’s and finishing with the very first. About extinct animals he had no names for. About untrampled ground and prehistoric skies pouring rain and split with lightning.
He wanted to hear. Wanted to know. If only he could understand.
It baffled Daniel, in retrospect, that his parents had warned him away from the field. They had convinced him that it wasn’t evil, that it needed a friend and that he was to be that friend, and now they didn’t want him in it.
He was still trying to decipher its noises when he heard the pur of an engine, rising to a growl as it drew closer.
To be continued...
Hmmmm, it is lovely to have a new part so quickly after the last. I am excited about this. While the parts are short, this is just the right thing to make me really hyped for the chapter. Actually, I am even more hyped because of the ending. Cannot wait for the next part, that'll be great! Daniel as a PoV is slowly growing on me, as much as I'm never a huge fan of children PoV's to be fair. You really do a great job showing his thoughts and the effect this world had on his development becomes pretty obvious. A good thing he has Ashley and Atlanta, I don't want to imagine how bad things would have been for him on his own.
But ah, I am not ready for this act in general, am I? The In Memoriam is having me particularly on the edge, but this is the final act, so it's all going to be fair game. This is going to be one insane feels trip, this much I expect, but I don't think I am in any way prepared for it. Yet at the same time, the hype is honestly real and I cannot wait for the next part.
Daniel Martinez — Rosa Drive, Central Texas — 376 Days In — 16-08:
The truck stopped in the yard, and people climbed out of the cabin and the back end, and Daniel’s parents from the field emerged to greet them. The dog jumped out of the back end, and it was the only one to approach Daniel. Asher had called it Mutt, because it was a mutt, but Daniel wasn’t nearly so indifferent to names; he called it Adam Gooddog, at Keith’s suggestion. Adam Gooddog came up the steps and at Daniel in a flurry of kisses and sniffs and battered him with its tail. He petted it, then watched it as it went off to investigate its new home.
When Daniel looked up, he found that Josephine had been the first to climb the porch and reach him, the first to see that he’d been crying. He came to his feet. She touched his shoulder and smiled at him with concern. “Did something happen, Daniel?” she asked. “Are you okay?”
“Missed you, is all,” he lied, prettying up the lie with a genuine smile.
She didn’t question it. She pulled him into her in a hug, and he was pressed against her giant stomach. “Well, we’re here now, baby,” she said. He hugged her back, taking care to be especially gentle, since he was afraid she might pop or something, or the baby might die. Josephine cast her gaze over her shoulder, her smile undiminished. Daniel pulled away to see who was coming next. He was disappointed. It was Natalie.
Why did Calvin have to die?
As she climbed the steps, Daniel wondered this. It was like an open sore: tongued, worried, it had never healed. He had liked Calvin. Of course, he had been scared by him, too. By Doctor Calvin’s by the latex smell of him, by his power to declare him sick, as if his word finalized its reality. Yet his death rattled had Daniel. So suddenly, so unexpected, it had rattled everyone. Josephine especially, who had found him. But none more than Natalie.
After his death, Natalie had revealed to Josephine that Calvin had been her lover… whatever that meant… and that he had confided to her about heart conditions that he wanted kept secret because he was the only doctor and he was afraid they wouldn’t let him do his work if they knew. Daniel believed, along a few others, that Calvin had been murdered. But that didn’t make perfect sense: unless it was an outside attack, why destabilize your own community by killing your only doctor? The real explanation—a heart attack—disappointed him, and that disappointment carried over to how he viewed Natalie. She wasn’t a villain, conspirator, or anything of the like. She was on their side. That wasn’t as interesting.
But she knew a few things about pregnancies, having had one herself and having dogged Calvin into teaching her some things. They didn’t like each other much, Natalie and Josephine, but she was Josephine’s best hope of the baby being born alive and healthy.
So Daniel smiled at her, hiding half behind Josephine. Forced as his smile was, he had to keep Natalie close—at least for Josephine and the baby’s sake.
And for a wonder, Natalie smiled back. To summon such a show of friendless was no small feat. The bags beneath her eyes, the stiffness of her posture, spoke of a tiredness Daniel couldn’t begin to understand, not for a long time. The separation—splitting the Laredo community into six self-sufficient sub-communities, of which Rosa Drive was but one of them—was taking its toll on her.
“Hello, Daniel,” Natalie said to him, almost sighing the words. She leaned against the porch rail to rest.
Josephine turned Daniel by the shoulders toward the steps and the truck. “Go on, little man,” she said. “They could use your muscle.”
He nodded and scampered off.
They were waiting there, his parents and Keith and Lindsay and Jake who were unloading the truck and an old man named Jefferson who was leaning on a cane and standing off to the side watching the cloudy horizon. Daniel walked past him and joined in the labor.
To be continued...
I have waited for this part for ages
Josie, my Josie, it has been so long! And I can't properly put into words how glad I am that she and the others have arrived at last. If I remember correctly, the last time we saw any of them has been the christmas special 2016, which feels so crazy long ago, even if the part itself remains one of my absolute favourites. As such, I was hyped for this part, because I had the strong feeling they'd arrive soon. I had it even before Monument went into hiatus, so the long wait was particularly gruelling on these regards.
But it was definitely a super intriguing part even beyond my obvious and not-even-all-that-biased joy about seeing Josie again. The revelations here have been surprising and made me think. Before mentioning the elephant in the room, I see most of the characters we know are here at Rosa Drive. I expected Josie and Jake and could have guessed Keith and Lindsay, but was less sure about Jefferson and Natalie. I'll get to the latter in a moment. This means, the only ones missing are Stephen, Freddie Gomez and Tommy. The latter of these three is someone I cannot remember at all. Could you give me a reminder of when we last saw him? I remember Stephen fondly, Freddie Gomez not so much and while I'd take the former over Natalie, I'd be glad to not have the latter appear again. However, I have to wonder just if we'll see them again. The ones we have here are definitely the essentials, my all-time favourites (and Zoidberg Natalie) all together. While it has been marvelous to see them all again and I cannot wait for more, I must admit that I am also deeply concerned. Because something is going to happen and I don't like the chances a pregnant woman has to get out of this alive. I wonder how far along we are with Josie's pregnancy. This is the 13th month after the apocalypse and I remember Josie only learned about her pregnancy around the tenth at earliest, probably closer to the 11th. That means she's somewhere around the 4-5th month at latest, I believe, but if I am wrong there, clarification would be great.
Now, Natalie. Natalie, I am not sure what to do with her. I have to admit, the revelation here shocked me quite badly and not only from a strictly in-story perspective. See, so far I did not trust Natalie. In a way, I shared Daniel's opinion on her, I neither liked nor trusted her in any capacity. It was easy, she was the newcomer we barely knew, she had a strong motive to hate the core group for their involvement with Jerry and I think it has even been implied that she might knew about his survival, though that might have been in-character speculation by our heroes. So yeah, it was easy to see her as the bad guy here, the culprit behind Calvin's death and the one who plots the destruction of Laredo through her plan of splitting the community up (and I am really not fond of that one still). Of course, there never has been any evidence, but in the narrative, she seemed to fit the role perfectly. Now I have to wonder, perhaps we have all been too quick to judge. In that case however, I believe it was absolutely intended by you to make us distrust her until the revelations of this part and if that is the truth, well, then I gotta admit, that was genius. Playing with the paranoia to be expected by the readers at this point to present us the perfect culprit, only to have her turn out to be shockingly ordinary, just a normal person with normal relationships, perhaps not particularly likeable but certainly no villain. If Natalie told the truth here, then she is not behind the death of Calvin and that in turn makes her being Josie's best hope quite literally true. Now I face the possibility that this woman I so deeply disliked might actually be the one to save Josie's life and I do not know how to feel about it, especially as a remnant of distrust still lingers around.
Of course, Natalie could have lied. She could have made the whole story about Calvin's heart condition, believable and likely as it sounds, up, but I gotta ask myself just why she'd do that. I had this brief theory that she is so disturbed after the death of her baby (if I remember correctly) that she harbours such a strong, irrational resentment of Josie that she wants to try anything to prevent her from having the somewhat happy (well, at least positive) end she deserves by killing her and taking her child by force. But here's the thing, as much as I distrust Natalie, this theory simply makes zero sense. By the time Calvin died, Josie herself didn't even know about her pregnancy. Natalie somehow being her best and potentially only hope of delivering her child, maybe even of seeing it growing up, that could have only been a complete coincidence. By the time Calvin died, nobody could have known, therefore there is no reason to murder Calvin only to get closer to Josie. With the chapter title and our general paranoia, I believe everyone has been convinced that Calvin has been murdered, but now it turns out, maybe this was all a red herring, a trick to toy with our expectations. If this is the truth I gotta say, well played. So, there still is the possibility that Natalie is some evil mastermind, that she is lying and manipulating everyone to get her revenge. However, this would rely on so many if's and unless' that with honest shock, I have to admit it is simply deeply unlikely. For all the grandiose theories and speculations, the fact that Calvin's death might have been natural never even crossed me. It is so shockingly likely that I still have a hard time believing it. Natalie's version might be a bit too compelling, but it is actually highly possible. In that case (and actually, even in the case of Natalie being ill-intentioned towards the main group), I can only hope that despite her established dislike towards Josie, she ends up having enough sympathy for the mother-to-be that she is indeed going to save her life and that of the baby. It'd be Clarice all over again, but considering how much farther Josie has come since then and how much more is at stake here, I must say that I find it infinitely harder to trust Natalie, while simultaneously hoping that she is actually not the insane supervillain I previously painted her as. This alone brings me to the edge of my seat for this final act, but I am certain there's more to come. And save to say, I am already in purest Monument mode.
By the way, beyond my previous questions, there's one more. I was wondering, could you tell us where Rosa Drive is located? Like, how far away from Laredo is it and how close are the other communities? Will there be contact between them, sort of like in the comics with the four communities after the war against Negan, or will they all fend for themselves?
Good to see the story back up and running. Also, it's nice to see the core group reunited.
Freddie Gomez peeped on Josephine in, like, Chapter 11. It was a speculated that his behavior was "innocent" enough, because he is ten years old. When we left that plot thread, I believe Josephine was planning to confront him and set him straight. We'll learn more about that in the next chapter.
There's not much to Tommy. Firstly, he shouldn't be confused to Tom, Domenick's brother, who was a part of the Colorado expedition. Tommy was a very minor character in Chapter 11/12, a guard who helped Atlanta and Ashley when the storm caused a tree to fall on a section of Laredo's wall. He will probably appear in the next chapter. Not sure if he'll be fleshed out.
On Natalie:
Maybe she's hiding that there was more to Calvin's death. Maybe she isn't. If you look at the evidence, I think it's more likely she is earnest and truthful. One of the biggest things going for Natalie's innocence is her conduct. You can tell a lot about a person based on how they behave. Jerry was the murderer of her child, even if it wasn't precisely intentional, and he was the murderer of many from Zafir's former mall group, the survivors of which made up, like, more than half of Laredo's population. When Natalie discovered Jerry was still alive, she could have told everyone with a bone to pick with Jerry that he was alive and have formed a mob and have him lynched and then she probably could have consolidated power with the liked-minded council members, kick Josephine and Jake off the council for hiding Jerry, and taken over Laredo. Yet she didn't do anything of these things. There's one thing she'd interested in: survival. And what she service to be the best method to achieve this? Organized, stable community. Rather than potentially destabilize Laredo by killing Jerry or pulling a coup, she approached Josephine in private, and together, they reached a solution, which was to send Jerry along with the Colorado expedition. Is the road dangerous? Yes. Could she be harboring the hope he died along the way? Possibly. But revenge—in her mind, perfectly describable as justice—is not assured. Frankly, and understandably, we're all a little Jerry-bias—if any other character not of the main cast had done what he did, and had done it to the characters we love (say, they had killed Josephine's child rather than Natalie's), we would be calling for their death. Obviously, people are subjective in their prejudices. But if we looked at these situation objectively, Natalie is... the good guy, or at least the wronged party. So look at this way: she put Laredo—a hundred people, her adopted son, every one of our favorite characters, who she doesn't see eye to eye with and has every right to hate—above her personal revenge. Is it still in her power to harm the characters we love? I suppose. But it ultimately, it isn't in her best interest, or in her adopted son's best interest, or the community's, and she realizes this. That kind of well-reasoned, detached selflessness of hers is one of the reasons she's becoming a favorite character of mine to write.
It's not "every community for itself." They're sub-communities, limbs of the same entity, Josephine, Jake, and Natalie's community being what we could be call the torso. There will be some contact between them, like the communities in the comics. However, I should add, these communities won't be the focus of the story. And to be honest, I haven't given a ton of thought to their locations relative to each other. They're close by, to be sure. I'll define their locations more in the future. I might make a map for a visual representation.
Aye, I do remember him! So, he will appear again, huh? I gotta admit, I am nervous about that. Sure, there's the chance that he is actually just an innocent kid, that all this time I have been distrustful towards one of the least dangerous characters in the story. At the same time, loss of innocence has been sort of a theme, most prominently featured in Daniel, but to a certain degree Santiago (at least before his death) and Josie herself (in growing from a woman barely out of her teens into a leader and expectant mother). So, I gotta ask myself, how innocent can Freddie Gomez actually be? Though to be fair, him not being innocent is not the same as him being outright dangerous, but I don't think it has ever been a bad thing to be wary.
I really can't say I remember him at all. I know he's not Tom from the Colorado group, that one actually left a bit more of an impression on me, but Tommy seems like the most minor character in the entire story. Hell, even Kurt left more of an impression on me but that was mostly because I just cannot get the hilarious image of him being, well, literally Nightcrawler, out of my head again
Phew, this is quite a complex situation. I must say, if this is actually the full story, then Natalie is the biggest Red Herring ever. Because she would have been the perfect culprit, all down to the motive. I must say, from her position I can even understand her feelings towards Jerry. Objectively, I think the ones truly at fault have been Zafir, for his policy of forcing survivors into his group, which was what led to Jerry having to take drastic measures to free himself, as well as Trevor and his friends for being the ones to start the situation by abducting Josie and Lindsay. But there is no denying that Jerry himself is majorly responsible for the destruction of Zafir's community and well, Zafir and Trevor got what they deserved so he's the only one left for her to be angry at. Objectively, the only thing the rest of the group did was that they kept Jerry's survival a secret, first from Zafir who was clearly on the edge of losing his mind and then from the rest of his group. What they did was protecting a friend, someone who saved each and every one of them. I hope that not even Natalie can hold that against them, justified as her anger towards Jerry may be. I doubt anyone would have acted differently if it was them instead of the Harvest Hills group. The majority of them, minus Jerry, is innocent in this and there shouldn't be a reason to hate them. Disliking them however, aye, I can't even blame Natalie for that. And the more I think about it, the more I am willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. Her version of the story is shockingly simple. There doesn't need to be a needlessly complex murder-revenge plot of hers going on. The far more likely explanation actually seems to be that this is the truth, that Calvin had a heart attack, that Natalie placed the needs of her people above her own desires and is now working with our heroes, even to the point of being willing to support Josephine during her pregnancy. You are absolutely right there, you know me too well. Would their roles be reversed, would, by any chance, Jerry even end up having caused the death of Josie's child, you know I would cry havoc. I would never forgive him or any other character involved in it. My bias is as real as it is undeniable and it is exactly this that led me to distrust Natalie in the first place, to assume the worst of her because were their roles reversed, I'd do the exact same thing I accused her of. Objectively, she has reason to hate Jerry, she even has a right to take revenge on him, even if I think the rest of the group should be considered innocent in his actions. The fact that everything points towards her swallowing her pride and actually doing the right thing, down to the aspect that she seems to be willing to grant Josie, a woman she understandably does not like, the chance she never had, the chance to see her child grow up, that makes me honestly admire her a bit. I don't consider her to be a particularly likeable character in terms of her personality, but that might just be due to her being understandably cold and distant from pretty much anyone. It doesn't mean I cannot respect her and well, if she truly harbours no secret desires to harm our heroes while they are at their weakest, then I genuinely consider her the best chance they have to survive, which is a far cry from the possible threat I saw her as before this latest part. If this actually turns out to be the case, then she is probably the most misjudged character in the entire story, having it worse than Clarice or Jake before I grew to like them. Kudos, Hope, that Natalie situation is genuinely a complex one.
I forgot to mention this until now (been so busy with classes and packing), but I'm going to Utah! To Zion National Park! I'm really excited! I'll be gone for about a week. Though most of the next parts are written, I need to take the time to revise a few aspects, and I don't have to the time to go that before I leave, so sadly I can't leave you guys with a parting part. That said, Monument will resume when I return! Also, this will be my first time visiting the Rocky Mountains, which should lend some authenticity to Colorado locals in this story!
I'll see you guys soon!
As I'm sure all my readers know, TellTale's gone under and the future of the forums looks grim. It's possible that it could go down at any moment. No one know for certain. But the creatives of the forum got together and made a new forum, for stories and whatnot. So, Monument will go on, as well as Silicon. I will be cross-posting parts here and on the new forums, eventually transitioning completely to the new forum. Here's the link to the forum: http://creators-haven.boards.net/ And here's the link to Monument's board: http://creators-haven.boards.net/board/9/monument-walking-dead Without ado, here's the next continuation of Daniel's story!
Daniel Martinez — Rosa Drive, Central Texas — 376 Days In — 16-09:
The day passed slowly. They moved boxes of supplies and personal items from the truck into the rooms of the farm house. Lunch was made quickly, most eating standing up or plopping down wherever they could sit to wolf down their food so they could get back to the hustle of moving in. Jake and Atlanta and Adam Gooddog split off to evaluate the fence, while Keith and Lindsay and Ashley and Daniel moving the remaining boxes and unpacking, and Natalie saw to Josephine’s comfort, sitting her down in the living room with Philip the Cat for company before Natalie, too, got back to unpacking and shelving canned goods. Jefferson had retreated to his room to rest.
By the time evening rolled round, and the sun began to set, everyone but the cat was dog tired. The dog was worn out, too. He had found a hare which he had chased to its hole; he had spent the last few hours of daylight trying to widen the hole to fit its body and failing and pacing around the hole whimpering. He came back sullen and disappointed when Daniel called him inside for his dog food. Daniel called him a dummy for getting bested by a hare but scratched him behind the ears to show that he didn’t really think it.
The dining room was alive with the sounds of talk and chair legs scraping the hardwood floor when Daniel got back. As he was about to claim a seat, a hand touched his shoulder. He looked up at Natalie.
“Would you bring Jefferson his meal?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said.
“And you better clean your hands before you come back.”
He nodded, grabbed the tray that the food was on, and took it into the hall. The further he got from the dining room, the darker it got, but the sounds behind him were loud, surely loud enough to keep the monsters away. So he proceeded through the dark with their sounds for company. He pressed the tray into his stomach so he could free one hand to open the door to Jefferson’s room, then entered. A few steps into the room, the door closed shut. Maybe most people would have jumped, or spun around, but Daniel locked up.
It was much darker in here. Frozen, he held his breath, listened. The blankets rustled in front and a figure sat up. Seconds later a flame clicked to life upon the old man’s lighter. Jefferson normally had a soft, kind face, but the flickering light filled his wrinkles with shadows and lent his expression a sinisterness that his smile could not quite redeem. The late hour seemed to have robbed Jefferson of some of his wits; normally clear and lucid, his eyes were now glassy with tiredness.
“That for me?” he said, in a Texan drawl. He lit a candle on the nightstand and put away the light.
Daniel inhaled, finally. “Yes, sir.”
“Well, hand it here.” Daniel passed it over and then stood there with his arms slank at his side. Jefferson stirred the beans. Tasted the rice. Bobbed his head, as if in approval. He looked up at Daniel again. “You waitin’ for me to dismiss you or what?”
“Uh...”
“It’s alright, boy. Thank you. You mind gettin’ me a glass of water?”
“Uh, sure.” He scurried out. Scurried back. As he entered again, he left the door standing and watched to see if it would do anything. It did nothing.
“Something peculiar ‘bout that door?” Jefferson said as he chewed.
“Nothing. I just thought…”
“That it, what, closed on its own?”
“Yeah.”
“Possible it did.”
Water sloshed against the rim of the glass. “Really?”
“Give me that glass before you drop it and I’ll tell you.” Jefferson took the glass and patted the mattress beside him. Daniel climbed up, and as he looked back, the door clicked shut, the cutting the sounds of the volume of the others in half. The candle couldn’t illuminate the whole room, and darkness crouched in the corners, on the floor, and up at the ceiling. “Well,” Jefferson, chewing some more, dragging Daniel’s attention to him, “it probably just fell shut. But you can’t know, can you?”
“No?”
“You can’t. Not for sure.” He spooned more rice into his mouth. “Not when the dead walk the earth. You can ascribe it all to science and fiddlin’ with the gene and viruses and what not but you can’t know for sure. Could be that heaven and hell are overflowin’ and we’re gettin’ the run off. Could be that the devil or god or whoever got tired of people and hung up their hats. But you can’t know that either. When you’re in the dark, when you’re ignorant to the inner workings, you gotta walk on with all possibilities in your head and the possibility that none of them are true and that the truth remains untapped. Maybe when the dead are done walkin’ again they start hauntin’. Maybe these are stages to some metamorphosis that we don’t know the full scope of. Could be. Could be. Baby, to adult, to” —he laughed— “ hobbling olddie, to dead, to undead, to ghost, to whatever next. Maybe full circle, then. Ghost, to baby again, or an animal depending on your karma, which is the good and bad you did in your life. Reincarnation. That’s a Hindu belief. Or maybe the stages of life and death go on and on. But no human on this earth knows.” He quoted: “‘Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.’ John 5:28-29. That’s from the bible. That’s my book.” Tapping his plate with his silverware to produce eight thin clinks, the old man paused to mull over something. “I’m a Christian man,” he continued. “Be good and kind and helpful to others and I believe you get to go to heaven and be happy forever. I don’t like the idea of hell. Don’t think most people deserve it. None of these people came back because they were evil. No, sir. Anyway. You’re young, so you probably don’t know, but there was a war. A long war. A war no one really liked—that is, if you can say there was a war anyone really liked. Anyway, if I learned anything from fightin’ that war it’s that you can shoot problems away if they’re flesh and blood, you can shoot these here walkers, but if they come back without their meat, you’re up a creek. You can’t shoot the dark, boy. You can’t shoot nightmares or poltergeists. You can’t shoot the dark.”
Daniel emerged from the bedroom as if from a fever dream. His mind was reeling with so many unfamiliar names and concepts that he had forgotten his hunger. Well, for as long as it took him to get back to the dining room. There, the smell of the food and the merriment brought him back to the world. A placed had been made for him at the table, and a plate had been filled. He sat, and ate, and deliberately left the world again to think about what Jefferson had said. Jake and his parents were spitballing solutions to make the farm more defensible, but Daniel was too busy going mental gymnastics to care much about sheet metal or trenches. Half of what the old man had said seemed like nonsense. And the other half? Stuff that bordered on nonsense. Heaven, hell, metamorphing whatever, karma, reincarnation, poltergeists. But it all had an affect on Daniel. His takeaways were these: that he should maybe avoid talking to Jefferson when he’s tired and rambling and a little frightening, and that there was no way to attack a ghost physically. It occurred to him, then, as he finished his food, that while you couldn’t attack what wasn’t there, there might still be ways to defend yourself.
Daniel did not want them to leave. They had to, though. Natalie’s community—the largest of the six, perhaps what you might call the central nervous system of their setup—depended on her. She couldn’t be away for a whole night. And Josephine had to stick with her. Jake would not have left his wife’s side for the old world. So it was that they gathered by the doorway and gave sleepy goodbye hugs and kisses.
Daniel was not sleepy. He was scared, but did his best to hid it. He was terribly conscious of the fact that with each leave-taking they were likely more vulnerable to the forces at work in the house. Still, he said his goodbyes, told them he loved them, gave his hugs, kept himself from crying. After a moment of debate, he hugged Natalie and told her thank you—love you would not have fit, but he was definitely thankful for her—but he made it brief, afraid a hug any longer would make her mad. As it stood, it seemed to have been just long enough. She moved the hair out of his eyes, which was perhaps her verison of hair ruffling: instead of making chaos of his head, she put it in order. He had received an affectation from her, and he liked her more for it.
Then, bedtime.
He had his covers over himself, like a cocoon. The house around him, too—in a way, an even greater cocoon.
Could mere walls protect against the great expanse of night outside? What good did they do against what was inside?
Probably nothing. Walls were a deterrent against physical things, like people and walkers. A ghost could move through them.
He listened to the wind and the house’s interior noises for a long time before he fell asleep.
To be continued...
Previously, on Monument:
Mei Xia—a Chinese woman residing in Colorado Springs, Colorado, ten months into the apocalypse—is doing her nightly run, which takes her close to the wall, where she stumbles across a body of guard. Evidently, he was murdered—stabbed and then pushed off from the wall, down into the community. Mei, noticing that his assault rifle is missing, suspects she is in the murderer’s sights. Feigning ignorance, that she did not see the body, she calmly jogs on. When she thinks she’s safe, she alters her route and heads to the police precinct to report the murder. She is certain, as she runs, that it is going to be a long night.
Colorado Springs — 302 days in — 16-10:
Mei Xia
Sometimes—hell, even Mei had to admit to herself—you miscalculate. You expect one thing, you get another. This was her expectation when she went to the police: She would be stuck in a room until morning, relating every detail of her encounter, down to the littlest, over and over again, while the officers, who were stalling to keep her there, would take their sweet time to examine the validity of her claims, secure the crime scene, and rule her out as a suspect. Then she would be freed, and the sun would be up, and she would have to find someone to fill in for her at her guard post. She thought, as she neared the precinct, she was in for a long night. She had no idea it would be her longest, and the dawn hours especially—those would feel the longest of all.
No stranger to bureaucratic slowness—having been a government agent in China before she immigrated—she weathered the slog of questions and paperwork better than any of the officers. Which perhaps reflected poorly on her, what with her calm demeanor and total composure. These American men, they could not comprehend a picture of femininity like hers. That she was not in tears or at least visibly shaken struck by the sight of a dead body struck them as suspicious, nevermind the fact that they were in the midst of an apocalypse; sexists never moved sexism to the backburner. They kept her in a room, and after long boring intervals of isolation, someone would come in to question her before leaving her again. As the night went on, this route began to annoy her. She regretted her approach now. She wished she had put on an act in the beginning, just to get to bed sooner. Not that her stamina was flagging. She had counter-interrogation training. The police were amateurs at best.
But eventually, they stopped coming, and annoyance brimmed over to exasperation. An hour passed by herself—the longest interval of isolation yet—and then another. It had to be six in the morning. She sighed. She stood and tested the doorknob. Finding it unlocked, she poked her head through, prepared to play clueless if it meant this would be over. Yet there was no one in the hall. She wandered from the area given over to witness processing and holding, into another section of the building. A man in uniform dashed past her, without remarking upon her unaccompanied presence. He was gone around the corner before she could call him to tell her what was happening.
Evidenced by the general disorder of the desks, the officers had made a hasty response. Such an urgent matter, too, for no one was left to hold down the fort, at least as far as Mei could tell. She found her way to the lobby, and out the front doors. The sun wasn’t up yet, but to the north, the dark clouds glowed a fluctuating red. An incense of smoke-tainted the air she breathed.
A fire. Well, the police’s disregard for her made sense now—a fire demanded everyone’s full attention effort if they had any hope of fighting it. Mei couldn’t argue. Her apartment lay in that direction, and judging the light on the clouds alone could not assure her that her home wasn’t also in flames.
Mei studied a speaker that was mounted to a nearby streetlight. It should have been screaming at her. It loomed silent instead. Odd. Could be it was broken. But this did not seem to be the issue, because, in any case, she should have heard the fire alarm anyway. The speakers were loud by design and strewn plentifully about the city, yet the only sound the wind carried was of distant shouts. Somehow, the whole system was down. It reeked of sabotage. Perhaps it was in her wiring to jump to fantastic conclusions. She was more inclined to believe her instincts, which told her thus:
They were under attack.
In which case time was short. She had to assume that the slain guard, the fire, and the broken PA system were of one systematic assault on the community, and that swiftly or at the leisurely pace of the self-assured, more would follow. In her mind, it was a question of if so much as when. The people of the Colorado Springs were a hardy bunch, but save for the large military population, they lacked the preparation to deal with an attack on the inside, and even then, Mei knew of no plan among its militant citizen beyond rolling with the punches and shooting back—some plan. If she wanted to live—and yes, she wanted to fucking live—she would have to tackle the problem of survival on her own terms.
She needed a weapon. Being a guard, she knew that she couldn’t get a gun from the police precinct; if they were diligent about one thing, it was keeping the gun room under lock and key. In any case, though she was well-trained in their use, she disliked guns. She preferred fighting hand-to-hand or with a melee weapon. A knife was unideal but doable. She wondered about her apartment. Not about her all possessions, lost to flames; she was not materialistic by nature. But about her bo staff. If there was one thing she wanted above else in her company, beyond competent people, one weapon that might see her through this, it was her bo staff. A few problems lay in the way of retrieving it, however: namely the fire, and the people who would be attempting to put it out. Not to mention that it might be wiser to count her loses, beat an early retreat before everyone realized how screwed they were, and pick up something along the way.
[Travel across the city, facing any number of obstacles and threats, to reach your apartment, to retrieve your bo staff.]
[Improvise.]
Remember to copy paste this part just in case.