The Black Plague: Venables and Wellington's First Horror Story

It began when the Black Plague came to the Caribbean,

Within weeks the dead began to rise...

From the graves and the piles of corpses not yet buried...

Like nothing we'd seen before...

''They hunt for human flesh... ''

Now, Seventy years on, Jolly Roger uses them to his own ends...



Chapter One: Tea Time
It was a perfectly normal affair, a group of ladies and gentlemen sitting around the table enjoying a game of cards and a cup of tea. The table was set in pleasent finery of the usual kind afforded to the upper class, the china of the finest quality and the silverware polished perfectly.

The gentlemen and ladies sat around the table were laughing and enjoying themselves, having a good time. But behind the polite laughter and manners, they all were uneasy, scared. They all jumped slightly when Governor Grey entered and smiled to them, introducing a young man with dark hair and equally dark clothes to the ensemble. "Everybody... this is Mr Ocata, he's just arrived... another Hunter."

Mr Ocata stood there, he was tall, dark haired with a pale complexion and had a sword strapped to his hip. "Good Afternoon" he said with a polite bow. Grey beckoned him to sit and take a place at the table, "Francisco, please tend to Mr Ocata." The Steward poured wine for Mr Ocata and stood back, uneasy by the gentleman. The others looked at Mr Ocata who smiled at them generously.

"Tell me Mr Ocata... how do you survive in the Badlands?" Miss Beckett asked with a look of fascination on her face. Governor Grey gave the introductions, "Mr Ocata, this is Miss Beckett, daughter of Lord Cutler Beckett, the renowned head of East India Hunter Company." Mr Ocata looked at her, he smiled and tapped his forehead with a wink, "Intelligence Miss Beckett, one must think and act in one fluid pattern if they are to survive against... the afflicted."

"But how can you know who to trust?" Miss Beckett asked. Mr Ocata smiled and took out a small vial from his coat pocket, inside were six large flies. "Carrion Flies Miss Beckett, their in possesion of but one truly enviable talent.. the ability to detect dead flesh." as he said this, Mr Ocata released the large flies into the air, where they began to buzz around loudly. A older gentleman with a large, twirled mustache, who was sat at the table and went by the name of Mr Graham Marsh of Marsh Imports, looked blankly at the flies.

Governor Grey looked at Mr Ocata, "The buzzing is rather disconcerting..." he said with distain. Mr Ocata looked at him and smiled generously, he looked at the others around the table, "It's not the buzzing that should concern you sir... but rather when the buzzing stops" as he said this he looked at Mr Marsh, upon whose face the flies had landed. Governor Grey looked rather dejected and merely said, "Oh dear...".

Mr Ocata sat there and quietly drained the last of his wine, suddenly jumping up and smashing the crystal glass on the side of the table and jumping across it, stabbing Mr Marsh in the forehead with the shattered, jagged edge of the glass. Governor Grey and the other's looked horrified as Mr Ocata took the dagger suddenly revealed in his hand and cut deeply into Mr Marsh's neck, finally removing the head and sending it rolling onto the carpet on the floor, black blood spurting everywhere.

Mr Ocata stood there, wiping his hands with a cloth from the table, he looked at them as Mr Goldtimbers and three soldiers rushed in, Goldtimbers saw the body and saw Mr Ocata and vomitted, "Take the body and burn it immediately!" Grey ordered as he nodded to Mr Goldtimbers. The soldiers collected the body and the severed head and took it outside as Mr Ocata and Governor Grey sat down, "Shall we continue with cards?" Mr Ocata smiled as Goldtimbers vomited again.

Chapter Two: Welcome to Port Royal
Lady Hannah Venables was taking her customary ride around the township, her horse trotted through the streets and she looked around with curiosity. She looked at the high solid stone walls that surrounded the township, soldiers patrolled upon the parapet and looked out over the Badlands beyond. As she rode past the only gate out of Port Royal to the Badlands and looked out the great iron bars of the gate, she saw several of the unmentionables. They stood there, silently looking at her, perfectly still. She gave a look of sadness, pitying the people who they had one been, now they stood there, faces human yet not... the wounds where they had been used as a meal for other unmentionables before the terrible conversion showed bare teeth with stray bits of flesh hanging from their faces, their eyes glazed over and gray. They almost looked normal.. save for the hideous wounds that no living being could survive. She rode on, past the heavily fortified jail in which they kept certain unmentionables.

She passed through the heavily guarded gates of Governor Grey's residence, passing through seemingly idealic gardens, seeing a number of ladies play croquet and mingling, she rode on up the hill and arrived at the stables to find Richard waiting for her with a smile on his face, "No trouble?" He asked as she dismounted and removed her duel pistols from the harness.

Major Richard Venables was a handsome, slightly pale man, with dark blonde hair and greyish blue eyes, who wore the uniform of the British Marine Corp. He had a smile on his face, but the stress was evident on his face. Never the less he gave his wife a small hug, before taking her up to the house. "There are more unmentionables at the gate" she spoke as they walked towards the house, Richard frowned, a flicker of annoyance on his face. "They wont stop coming... the ground here is too soft." He looked out over the main yard, then at the high walls around it with the cruel spikes on top. He continued walking up with her in silence, Hannah looked at him, "The Unmentionables... within the jail... what happens to them?" She asked matter of factly. Richard looked at her, another flicker of annoyance passing over his face, "We detain them, study them, trying to find a cure."

They reached the house and walked inside, Richard sighed looking out barred windows to the gardens, he sighed faintly, "Ensign Grimm was taken today... got to close to the gate... tried taunting a zombie... who happened to be quicker than he thought... bitten before he knew what happened... he'll be burnt amost likely." Hannah looked at him and shook her head, Ensign Grimm has been a pleasent if somewhat mischievous young officer, now he was another victim of the plague.

Suddenly artillery sounded from the bastions surrounding the town, Richard barely looked up, it was regular occurrence for them to fire upon any Unmentionables that strayed too close to the wall. But the thunderous sound perturbed Hannah, she gave a sad look and slumped in a chair. Governor Grey walked in and nodded to Richard, barely acknowledging Hannah, "Major, any news on the latest shipment?" Richard looked at Grey, who was talking about the regular shipments of supplies from the Fortress Country of England containing both military and other finer items.

"We believe that they may have been... afflicted Governor, but we haven't given up hope yet" Richard replied smoothly, Grey looked worried, he was a politician not a warrior, the Zombie threat was a daunting thing for him, ever since his parents were killed in a Zombie raid on Howick Hall as a child. He looked at Richard, "I trust the hunters are bringing in plenty of Unmentionables to the market?" The market as a place few went to except the Hunters of the Afflicted and those who paid them and then burnt the Unmentionables, sending them to a permanent grave. Richard gave a faint sigh, "Those rogues always bring in cage loads, they make a fine living off the Badlands."

