Episode: 7.17

--- Ozzy ---

He blinked as awareness slowly came back to him.

(Wh… what happened?)

He was laying on his side, his entire body pulsating with a sort of cool warmth, one that seemed to focus on the various aches and pains throughout his body.

“Damn kid, how long ‘s it been since you had a proper meal?”

(Proper… meal?)

He blinked, his hazy vision catching sight of the other Deadman -(Johnny?)- watching him from the shadows. Given how he’d just blacked out, he knew he should be wary of the older Deadman, but at the moment he was just too… (tired?) to care.

(Which isn’t a good thing.)

With that bitter thought in mind, he forced himself to sit up and ask the most important question at the moment.

“Wha…” He rolled his jaw, some odd feeling making it lock up on him. “What happened?”

“You frenzied again. Which is why asked you how long it’s been since you last ate.” The other Deadman explained in a matter of fact manner.

(Frenzied…)

He jolted up as his eyes went wide, looking for whoever his poor victim was hoping it wasn’t too late to-

Next to him was a dead dog.

A glowing green dead dog.

A glowing green dead dog with several chunks missing.

He swallowed. “What exactly happened?”

Johnny sighed. “Right, so what I was trying to explain earlier was that I was hunting a Deadbeast.”

“A… ‘Deadbeast’?” He repeated. (What the hell is that?)

“Mmhmm.” Johnny nodded, before crouching next to him. “Like I said before this area is pretty dry as far as ectoplasm goes, so when I felt a bunch of it moving erratically I figured it was a feral and…” Seeing his blank look, Johnny seemed to roll back a bit. “Erm, think of it as slang for the non-sentient undead.”

“They… Deadmen can be non-sentient?” He asked, because that went against the whole theory of Deadmen being created from thought and emotion imprinting on Ectoplasm.

“Yeah, normally it only happens when an animal or something turns.” The other Deadman began to explain.

“Non-humans can become Deadmen?”

Johnny sighed at the question before giving him a look. “You really like asking questions don’t you kid.”

He felt like this wasn’t the first time someone pointed that out to him.

Shaking his head, Johnny apparently decided to answer his question regardless. “Technically anything capable of ‘feeling’ can be turned. Since becoming a Deadman I’ve seen all sorts of crazy stuff like ghost-hounds, zombie-cats, and even a ghost-scorpion once. That was a freaky one actually…”

Johnny shook his head and raised a hand before he could ask another question. “Either way, the important bit is that since they’re made of ectoplasm, that makes them edible. And since their non-sentient that means guilt free food for the zombie.”

“Non-sapient.” He corrected almost reflexively, as his mind tried to process what the more experienced Deadman was trying to tell him.

Johnny blinked at that segue. “Huh?”

“Sentience is the ability to feel. Sapience is the ability to think. And since the ability to ‘feel’ is what let’s someone turn, then that means the creature is sentient.” He explained, remembering how much of a kick his sister went on when her psychology and philosophy classes started to overlap. “The fact that it’s not Sapient, means it’s not… self-aware, I guess.”

“Huh. Didn’t know that.” Johnny sounded impressed. “Either way, I still think it’s better to hunt a Deadbeast than a fellow Deadman.”

“Can’t really argue with that.” He admitted as his eyes drifted to the dead do- (Deadbeast) next to him.

(It tasted so sweet, so filling, the sounds, the struggling, nothing mattered except ending the eternal hunger…)

Laying next to him was a brunette-haired woman with a bleeding neck wound.

(I really can’t…)

He wasn’t sure how long he was staring for, but he did jump when Johnny clapped his hands together.

“So, since you’re new to this whole Deadman thing, I’m going to take you under my wing, brother.”

He frowned. “Don’t call me that.”

“Call you what? Know what, never mind.” Johnny asked before waving his own question away as he stood up. “First thing you need to learn is how to preserve Ectoplasm.”

“And how am I supposed to do that?” He asked bitterly, not liking the other Deadman’s familiarity but not willing to pass on the opportunity to learn more about surviving life as a Deadman. (Especially if it means I don’t have to hurt anyone else to live…)

For him the idea of not having to kill anyone had been a pipe dream, one he was willing to starve to try and fulfill. The fact that it might be legitimately possible… Well he could put up with his distrust of the other Deadman for a little while.

“Alright, first thing you’re going to need is a metal container.” Johnny explained as he made his way to a backpack near one of the walls. “I mean you could use a plastic container, but ectoplasm will eat through that after a couple of days.”

“Yeah, I figured a radioactive substance would do that.” He snarked.

The fact that he heard the older Deadman mumble, “That does explain the glowing…” had him almost immediately second guessing his decision.

“Anyway, I’ve found metal thermoses to be best for storing ectoplasm.” Johnny told him while retrieving one such thermos from the backpack. “That way if you end up needing to top up in public, it won’t draw too much attention. As long as they don’t see what you’re drinking anyway.”

Johnny took a place next to him and the Deadbeast before showing him the medium sized thermos. “For reference a thermos this size, will probably hold enough ectoplasm to last you a week or so with minimal power usage.”

“That’s good to know…” He admitted as he eyed the container.

“Right,” Johnny nodded as he inched closer to the Deadbeast. “Now there’s this weird thing about ectoplasm you’re going to want to remember, brother. You see it’s got this weird pseudo-solid jelly thing going.” The other Deadman explained as he shoved a hand into the doubly deceased Deadbeast with a sick squelching sound.

“Now, what that means is if you break a chunk of it off…”

Ozzy nearly vomited as Johnny somehow did just that. Taking a solid pound of meat and fur off of the Deadbeast. Though his disgust began to fade as he noticed the way the Deadbeast’s dark fur was starting to change color, becoming almost greener.

“It’ll slowly break down into almost pure ectoplasm.” Johnny told him, stuffing the… wetter bits of the substance into the thermos, while tossing the rest back. “Which makes it significantly easier to store all things considered.”

The other Deadman shoved the thermos into his hands, expecting him to continue the job himself. Which, with a grimace, he did.

“Now while you’re going to want to get as much of that in there as you can, it’s more important to be quick about it.” Johnny told him.

He scowled as a fair portion of the ectoplasm stuck to his hands. “Why?”

“Just watch the dog for a moment.” Johnny answered while fiddling with a cell phone. “Specifically, where it’s ectoplasm is exposed.”

He did, though he had trouble seeing anything in what little light was filtering into the room.

“And let there be light!” Johnny laughed, as his phone’s flashlight flickered on. “But seriously, let me get the angle just right!”

He watched as Johnny angled the flashlight so that the light was only hitting the exposed part of the ectoplasm, and as he did, he began to notice something in the air above the ectoplasm. Little green dots gently floating upwards and glowing as they exited the light.

“It’s breaking down.” He realized as the faintly glowing particles dimmed into nothingness. He’d thought the corpse would dissolve into a puddle of Ectoplasm not into a mist of the substance.

“Yeah, that’s part of the reason why people don’t notice the dead fighting unless they make a big scene of it.” Johnny explained. “Once one of us dies and our Ectoplasm will begin to spread into the air… which is why we need to keep it contained if we want to eat it later.”

Taking that as his cue, he began stuffing the remaining ectoplasm away. “What exactly is happening to the Ectoplasm? Do you know?”

“Not really.” Johnny admitted, as he began taking the Deadbeast apart for his own thermos. “I heard a rumor once that when one dies without being eaten it increases the chances of another Deadbeast forming in the area, if a bit weaker than the first.”

Something about that answer left a chill in his spine.

(If a dying Deadbeast creates another Deadbeast… and Deadmen are made from ectoplasm like Deadbeasts… does that mean Deadmen are made from other Deadmen?)