Title:           Lazarus
Author:          Raackman
Pastebin link:   http://pastebin.com/JXSkLLki
First Edit:      Monday 1st of June 2015 11:20:29 AM CDT
Last Edit:       Last edit on: Saturday 18th of July 2015 12:49:01 AM CDT

>You slowly creep back to consciousness
>What happened?
>Are you awake?
>You try to look around
>Nothing but blackness
>It feels incredibly cramped
>You try moving your arms and legs
>It's incredibly difficult to move at all, the most you can do is twist your limbs slightly
>Your senses feel incredibly dull, the most you can feel is the slight sensation of something shifting beneath your touch
>No, it's like you're completely covered in something
>You try twisting your back
>From the feeling, it would seem that you are laying on your back
>A bit of dull pain here and there throughout your body
>You try once again to move your arms
>Maybe you can get out of whatever you're inside of
>As you move your arms upward, you feel whatever is around them begin to shift
>Whatever this stuff is, you're slowly pushing through it
>Just as you extend your arms completely outward, your fingers suddenly stop meeting resistance
>You're underneath something?
>Maybe you found an exit or something
>You try bending your elbows and feel your hands move something
>Piles of something
>What is this?
>Is it... dirt?
>Are you buried in the ground or something?
>You try sitting up and feel what is probably the ground shift around you
>Two feet under, maybe?
>You wiggle your arms, still trying to move the dirt out of your way
>Eventually you manage to sit up, and you finally get your head above the surface
>You sluggishly look around
>It's still dark, but you can see the moon, now
>Around you are some stone slabs in the ground, or some that stick up from the ground
>Are you in a graveyard?
>But you're not dead
>You shake some loose dirt off of your head and look down at yourself
>Whoa, maybe you should be
>Your dirty arms are covered in cuts, gashes, and some barbed wire
>A few of your fingers are either missing or seem to be broken
 
>>xxxxxxxx
>Your torso doesn't seem to be much better off, as it is also filled with cuts and various wounds
>But the strangest thing about all of these is that none of them are bleeding
>They all seem to be filled with some sort of black goo
>You lift your head back up
>Why does your head feel so lopsided?
>It's as if one side has more weight than the other
>You try moving some of your fingers, and most of them respond, safe for those that are missing or too damaged to do so
>Why doesn't it hurt?
>Did you do this to yourself or something?
>Or did someone do this to you?
>You try moving your legs and see the dirt in front of you move somewhat
>Maybe you don't want to know what's happened to your lower half...
>"Hey! Who's out there?"
>You sit up at the sudden voice and look for it's source
>It isn't long before you spot the figure
>You try to respond, but nothing happens
>This may be an issue
>You lift one of your mangled hands in their direction and wave a little
>"A-A ZOMBIE!"
>They quickly turn and run away
>You must look pretty dead, too
>So, what do you do now?
>Should you just wait?
>Or should try searching for a way to figure out what happened to you?
>Looking for answers sounds like the best option, but getting started is the hard part
>You use your hands to slide yourself backwards and you finally free your legs
>Oh, it's worse than you thought
>Your legs are likewise covered in gashes and cuts, with some more barbed wire wrapped around your left knee
>And... your right foot is gone
>Just a black stump
>It's easy to see the blackness against your pale, grey skin
>Some parts of your left foot are probably broken, by the looks of it
>Pretty lucky that you can't feel any of it
>Looks like you won't be walking on that any time soon
>You take a look around the graveyard, trying to get your bearings
>You're near the edge of it, and on the opposite side is a pathway, the same one that pony suddenly ran back down upon seeing you
 
>>xxxxxxxx
>So, you're gonna have to drag yourself quite the distance, then
>What a pain
>You slowly roll over, trying to ignore the thought of foreign material entering your open wounds
>Slowly but surely, you drag yourself towards the pathway that leads out of the graveyard
>You look down at your damaged arms as you use them to move yourself
>The wounds on the bottom of your arms seem to be worsening, as the black goo seems to be slowly leaking out onto anything you touch
>You're essentially leaving a trail of "blood"
>If someone were to come along, it probably wouldn't be a very pleasant meeting for either of you
>It doesn't seem like you're able to talk for now, and your appearance is most likely incredibly disturbing to anyone
>You finally reach the path
>Should you follow it?
>Following it would probably lead to more ponies
>But you might risk getting lost or suffering even more damage if you stray too far
>Perhaps you could try to stay close to the path, and attempt to remain hidden in the case that someone else shows up
>This path may lead somewhere useful, after all
>You'll just stay close and follow along the path, maybe you can someone who will help you
>And you can spare those on this path from a sight of your twisted body
>You drag yourself over many rocks and plants to the opposite side of the path
>Getting all this stuff in your arms can't be good for you
>Maybe you ought to wait until morning to continue your little journey from the graveyard
>There's probably enough trees around here for you to remain out of sight
>You drag yourself to one that is particularly wide and a decent distance from the pathway
>Eventually, you get to the opposite side of the tree relative to the pathway and prop your back against it
>Yeah, there should be enough shade here to hide you
>You rest your odd-weighted head against the tree and close your eyes
>Can you even sleep?
>Why should you bother? Since you don't feel very tired
 
>>xxxxxxxx
>You open your eyes back up and look back down at your body
>The shadows make it hard to determine what is left of it, but it isn't very pretty
>You can bet that your genitals are unfortunately gone
>So, your body is covered in wounds, and you were buried in the dirt in a graveyard
>What could it mean?
>Are you dead?
>Well, the thought wasn't totally out of the question, but it's just not possible
>Aren't you still alive?
>Of course you are, since you can still move and breath
>Wait, have you been breathing?
>You take a breath and feel... nothing
>No, no, you couldn't possibly be dead
>You've probably just been drugged or something
>Yeah, if you were dead you wouldn't be able to move or anything
>And if you were in heaven or something, shouldn't your body not be in shambles?
>Who knows
>But, then again, what manner of drugs could prevent you from feeling all of this?
>And you don't feel very loopy
>You take a close look at your body, trying to find something that might determine if you're just tripping hard or if this is something else
>It isn't long before you begin to see something in a few of the deeper gashes of the back of your legs
>You slowly rotate one of your legs around and then see something in your calf
>A mass of yellow and nasty brown stuff
>Are those maggots?
>You reach down and grab at one of them, slowly pulling it out of your grey leg
>It slowly wriggles between your fingers
>No way
>This is a maggot
>You're no expert, but aren't the things that maggots really feed off of usually dead?
>So, does that confirm your little theory?
>Well, maybe not
>This would be easier with a mirror
>You bring your hand up and feel around your throat
>Then you feel something odd
>When your fingers brush past the middle area of your throat you feel them slightly catch on something
>A small horizontal something
>You feel it slightly more, poking at it
>Is that a... slit in your throat?
>You drop your hand into your lap and lean against the tree
 
>>xxxxxxxx
>It seems that you're really dead
>You've never heard of anything animating the dead, even in this world
>But, this also raises several more questions
>Who killed you?
>Why would anyone want to kill you, or torture you?
>By the looks of your wounds, it doesn't look like you had a very speedy death
>Luckily you can't seem to recall it
>But, you still don't know why you've been re-animated
>It's not like this world really needs you that much, as far as you can tell
>And, just how are you being animated, anyway?
>Is it just magic?
>Well, you're moving by your own will, so is it your magic? Or just magic that you can control?
>There doesn't seem to be any way for you to tell
>At least, not without help
>But do you really want to bother anyone with your dead problems?
>No, you probably shouldn't
>Who would really be willing to help a corpse?
>Nobody, that's who
>Then, what should you do?
>Well, then again, you're probably gonna have to bother somebody else eventually with your problems
>Because, how can you do this alone?
>Maybe you should just look for somebody to help you
>Perhaps if there's a town nearby, you can try just watching for anyone who might be a good Samaritan
>You look up at the sky past the dark silhouettes of tree branches
>The moon seems to have moved quite some distance, you can't even see it now
>Maybe it's behind one of the hills
>You begin to notice some sort of light forming on the horizon in front of you
>Is that the sun?
>Then, that means you can start your little journey soon
>You wait a small while before the light of the sun finally begins to reach you
>Well, it's quite bright
>And now you can see your body a little better
>Well, it's about as bad as you first thought
>Your skin is a filthy gray color, covered in dirt and what is probably your blood
>There seems to be a thick trail of your blood running down the front of your body
>You couldn't see most of this in the dark
 
>>xxxxxxxx
>You further inspect your arms and find barbed wire tangled around various parts of them
>On your left, it's wrapped around the area between your elbow and shoulder, and some of the wire actually goes beneath your skin
>Whereas on your right, it's mostly tangled around your wrist, hand, and between several fingers
>Since you're missing a foot, walking will be much more difficult
>Although it shouldn't be impossible
>You can also prevent further damage to the rest of your body by walking
>Otherwise you're going to have to drag yourself on the ground, which would most likely cause your wounds to open further
>Although you might not need to concern yourself with your health if you're already dead
>You slowly lift yourself from the ground, transitioning your weight to your knees
>If you can't walk, you could crawl if need be
>You bring your left leg up and put weight on your remaining foot
>Your leg and foot seem to be holding well enough
>You try to bring the stump of your right up so you can crouch
>As soon as you get weight on your right leg, you feel something cracking just below the knee
>Okay, that's not going to work
>You take the weight off and lower yourself back onto your hands and knees
>Crawling it is
>You move slowly forward, trying to follow parallel to the pathway
>Perhaps if you follow this pathway, you can find someone who might help you
>Or a proper place to stay
>A cave would do nicely
>You continue crawling along the path for a while, unable to tell how much time has gone by
>The sun seems to be slightly more overhead at this point in time
>You stop at what seems to be the crest of the upward slope you've been on for a while
>From here you can almost see the graveyard, so you haven't traveled very far
>You can see a town from the top of the slope
>Perhaps you could make your way there
>You look at yourself
>No, this won't do
>You can't approach anyone looking like this
 
>>xxxxxxxx
>You lean against the wall of the rather shallow cave you discovered about a week ago
>It overlooks the town, and is far enough into the woods that nobody really ventures anywhere near here
>Your situation has changed
>For better or for worse, you can't tell
>The cave had some interesting things in it, some old, rusty machines, a mirror, and several lengths of various wires
>The mirror was the first thing that you used, although most of it was broken, you were able to see enough of yourself
>You looked even worse than you thought
>The odd weight of your head is due to the fact that the upper left half of it is gone
>But now, you don't look quite as bad
>You slowly removed the barbed wire from your hands and arms
>Then, using the other lengths of wire, you weaved them into your body and even used some of them to sew a few of your wounds closed
>Some of the wires jut out of certain parts of your skin, several parts stick out from your head, but you still don't look quite as terrible
>And you managed to remove just about all of the maggots, at least the ones you could see
>But now, you've come to a predicament
>How to walk properly?
>You found a metal rod among the two machines, now of course, if you could find something else similar to it, you could make something like a brace
>Although for a broken leg, you don't need a brace, you need a cast
>You don't have the materials for one, and if you're dead, healing is out of the question
>Instead, you thought of a different idea
>Use the metal rod as a replacement for the bones in your right leg
>Since your right foot is gone, you should be able to get it up your leg easier
>Less bone and skin to get through
>The rod may or may not be strong enough to carry your weight, but it will have the support of your flesh, skin, and wires
>One end is sharp, the other is flat, perfect
>You slowly drive the sharp end through the stump of your leg
>Strangely, you don't feel a thing
 
>>xxxxxxxx
>You don't encounter much resistance as you push it in deeper
>After a while you feel it lightly hit something and stop pushing it
>You wrap some wires around your leg and push some into the open wounds around your right leg
>After inspecting your work, you decide to try it out
>Slowly, you bring your right leg up, then push off of the ground
>You try to keep as much weight on your left leg as possible
>Finally, you stand completely up, without assistance of your hands
>It's holding
>Well, that should be good enough
>You take a few steps forward and back
>Doesn't feel natural, but you can get used to it
>The metal clangs against the rock, and in some places almost slips
>Perhaps you could just avoid running and it will be fine
>You walk over to the opening of the cave and look around
>Clouds are moving in, or rather, they're being moved in by the pegasi in the sky
>If the storm is heavy enough, you can wash yourself off, and possibly take a look around without fear of being discovered
>You could also take the time to learn the land, it's contours and landmarks
>From here, you can see the ponies of the town wandering around
>They're all kinds of colors, and alive
>Still alive
>Well, being dead has some advantages
>You can't feel a thing
>And you haven't slept one bit, yet you don't feel even slightly tired
>This body will probably keep moving as long as it is connected to your brain in some way
>But, if you're dead, does that mean that your body will also begin to decay?
>This thought hasn't escaped your mind in the past week, but you've never really focused on it
>How will you repair your body from decay?
>You'll have to figure it out, later
>Drops begin falling just outside the cave
>You step out of the cave and into the light rain
>How will you repair yourself?
>Perhaps the answer will reveal itself in the future, as for now, you have no solution
 
>>xxxxxxxx
>You wipe your body down as best as you can with the water
>A few minutes seem to have passed of you just wiping yourself
>Your skin seems even more pale, without any dirt to darken or shade it
>You accidentally opened up some new tears here and there, but nothing major
>Well, now to check out the town
>You walk down the hill towards the town, testing out your leg some more
>It's working fairly well, so far, it seems to be held securely by those wires in your leg
>But you still won't be able to replace any wires that you lose or use
>Eventually, you'll run out, and then what?
>You can think about it on the way down
>Repairing your skin
>Or, just your body in general
>It hasn't proven to be impossible, but the way that you're doing is only temporary, at best
>What if you could find something else to repair your body with
>Rather than wire, what about strings?
>Strings should be strong enough, or at least strong enough to close minor wounds
>But you won't be able to just push strings through your skin
>No, instead you're going to need a sewing needle
>Maybe you can find one in the town, some how
>And what about when your skin just starts to die, fall off?
>You won't be able to replace
>Wait, replace
>Does it really matter what you replace lost skin with?
>For a corpse, no
>And would it be impossible to replace it with... living skin?
>You arrive at the very edge of the town, staying close the trees
>First thing is first, before you can try to find a place sewing materials, you need to study the inhabitants
>The streets are for the most part, empty
>You can't observe how they act like this
>Well, maybe you can look for a sewing place
>You begin moving through the trees, though the muddy ground is making it somewhat difficult to move your false leg without it either slipping or getting stuck
>You can't really see into most of the buildings from here, you might have to get closer
 
>>xxxxxxxx
>You continue to move along the outer rim of the town, trying to see into the buildings closest to you
>A few minutes of doing this and you come to a building that is further out from the others
>It's shaped like a carousal
>This one seems promising
>You begin carefully approaching it
>There isn't much to hide behind, aside from the building itself
>You move as quickly as you can to it, trying to stay low
>Eventually, you make it to the building, and you lean against one of the walls
>This seems to be the side of the building
>You go around to the nearest window and look carefully look inside
>There's no light coming from this one
>The room that you're looking into seems to be some sort of storage room as far as you can tell
>It's too dark to get a good view
>You inspect the window, there might be a way to open it
>This feels rather wrong, but you're not trying to be creepy
>You find a way to open the window and it swings aside
>This is so wrong
>You lift yourself inside
>There are many dusty boxes around and desks covered in old supplies
>At one of the desks you find exactly what you're looking for
>Sewing needles and plenty of threads
>You grab as many needles as you can and grab several rolls of thread
>Immediately you make your way back out the window and away from the town
>This is a good find, you didn't have to waste much time
>Soon you're back in your cave, closing just about all of your wounds, other than the smallest of cuts
>This will have to do for now
>It is unfortunate that you have a limited supply of needles and thread, but you can make this work
>Now you wait
>Wait for the storm to pass
>Wait for an opportunity to approach the residents
>This might end up taking a while
>Well, you have all the time in the world and nothing to do but wait
>You have all the time to think and rest
>Although you don't really need rest
>You haven't felt tired in the slightest
>Even after not sleeping for eight nights
>This body is an interesting one
 
>>xxxxxxxx
>