Legend of the No-Eyed Zombies
Fish by faith, not by sight.
Legend has it that once there was a fisherman, a one-eyed fisherman. Another legend has that he lost the eye when his daddy put out a cigarette on it. Anyways, this fisherman had an only son. Today was the day that his son would catch his first fish.
Today was his lucky day, his father told him before they left early that morning. So far the lad’s efforts have been fishless, but today the father would trust him with his most blessed bait. When they got to the pond, the pair lined their rods and the father busted out his magical bait box filled with grasshoppers.
‘With this you will catch your first fish. Just have faith, because your the bait of your 1st catch will be your lucky bait that you will be sure to catch fish with for life.’ The father hooked their lines with the ol’ 5 twist knot and baited their hooks with the hoppers. He handed his son his rod and they cast deep into the murky waters. ‘Today is the day,’ the daddy reassured. They sat there for hours.
The boy was losing patience, then big poppa got a bite and pulled it in with a steady reel. So smooth. ‘It’s worth the weight,’ he says as he signals the size of the bass. The dad joke fell on deaf ears as he put the fish in the cooler by the tree behind them.
After watching his father catch yet another fish in front of him, the boy gains not encouragement, but doubt. He reels up his line to check his hook. The grasshopper is still there. ‘First bait, lucky bait? We’ll see about that.’ The boy said in disgust as he takes the bug off the hook and tosses it aside. ‘I don’t even need no bait,’ he grumps in protest & swings his rod back over his head to cast his line.
The father turns back from the cooler and sees the sun setting behind the hills overlooking the pond. ‘Lord, I hope the boy catches something soon, it's bout time to go.’ Suddenly, the boy’s errant hook catches the 1-eyed fisherman’s last glance. The boy casts it deep into the deep. The father screams in pain. The boy shouts in joy, for as soon as it hits the water, he catches a bite.
The son reels in the bass as the father blindly stumbles to him. ‘Daddy, I caught my first fish. I didn’t even need no stinking bait.’
‘You definitely did,’ the father said calmly as the boy looked down the empty socket in shock. ‘Member when I told you that your first bait will be your lucky bait?’ the father asked as he reached into his back pocket. The boy nodded hesitantly.
The father grabbed his son by the back of the head and pulled his trusty leatherman. He flipped the blade, dug into his son’s skull and popped out one eyeball, then the other. He cut the optic nerves, dropping the eyes into his hand. The boy wailed and cried blood as the father prepared their lines with their new lucky bait.
‘How you even gonna cry with no eyes boy? From now on this is how we fish.’
Ever since, they’ve been hunting wayward hikers for their precious ojos. The blinded are fated to become their minions or starve in the darkness.
