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     |  ___________     _/_/       | |  \ \       _/_/       ___________  |
     | |              _/_/_____    | |   > >    _/_/_____               | |
     | |             /________/    | |  / /    /________/               | |
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     | |      c   o   m   m   u   n   i   c   a   t   i   o   n   s     | |
     | |________________________________________________________________| |
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  ...presents...                   Sanctified
                                                         by Obscure Images

                      >>> a cDc publication.......1990 <<<
                        -cDc- CULT OF THE DEAD COW -cDc-
 ______________________________________________________________________________


        The car rolled slowly down the twilit street as if trying to not wake
anyone up.  The driver of the car, breathing in the cold sludgelike air,
struggled to remain conscious long enough to make it home.  A tingling feeling
was beginning to develop at the base of his spine, ignored by the driver as he
lurched on down the street.

        Jason finally allowed himself a yawn as he pulled into a parking spot
in front of his apartment building.  The building looked vaguely menacing in
the murky light that was beginning to batter its way through the smog.  Another
long night, not much like the rest, or at least that is what he guessed.  A
failing of his was that he was never able to remember what he did the night
before anymore.  The trials and tri bulations of a drunkard, he thought as he
trudged up the stairs, his head thumping in rhythm with his feet.

        After fumbling for the locks on the door, Jason took off his ragged
wool long coat and threw it on the floor.  Being nearly as dirty as the floor,
the coat blended in with its surroundings very well.  In the kitchen area,
Jason poured himself a glass of water and popped a couple of sleeping pills
into his mouth.  Setting down the glass, he tripped his way across the room to
his bed.

        Sleep comes quickly to Jason's exhausted systems.  The world moves in
high speed, he is in a state of timelessness.  The dreams are there, they are
always there, but the mixture of exhaustion and drugs keep them at bay.  The
sun moves across the sky, baking the earth as it moves farther across the
heavens.  It passes the horizon on the other side leaving a fleeting warmth
that lasts for a few hours after its departure.  As the chill begins to wrap
its fingers around the city once again, Jason turns over and wakes up.

        The same old grind.  No working, no real need to, the old man is paying
for nearly everything.  He hasn't seen his father for more than a year now, his
father being too scared to venture into Jason's domain.  It wasn't that they
didn't get along, Jason liked his father a lot, but they were just incapable of
interaction.

        Refreshed from the extended rest, Jason flips on the television to see
what is there.  Thank god for cable television, there is always something on to
catch the eye.  Of course, watching the television was supposed to be bad for
you, but who believes that shit anyway.

        The television twitters on, but the details are ignored.  The TV never
sleeps, it is always there to keep someone company.  Jason crosses the room and
scavenges through the cabinets in search of something to eat; finding nothing,
he makes a note to go get some food later.  Moments after the note appeared, it
disappeared, not to reappear for months.

        Laying down on his bed, Jason tries to relax, letting the flickering
love of the television bathe him.  After a few minutes he falls asleep again, a
light and easy slumber, but yet deep enough to dream.  The buffers of the
earlier sleep are gone; without interference they enter his dreams.

        Colors burst inside Jason's head, the beings were there.  Escape was
impossible once they're inside, so he decided to try and ride their stay out.
The light was blinding, there were reflections off of everything.  For a moment
the intensity increased, causing Jason to writhe in pain, then the light dimmed
to a tolerable level.

        He was in a field of silver flowers and silk butterflies, the trees
were shining golden in the distance.  The beauty was overwhelming, a paradise
beyond in comparison to any place that Jason had ever been before.  In front of
him, some 25 meters away was an amazingly black platform with intricate gold
lettering on it.  The lettering was indecipherable, in some cryptic language
that one such as he would not know.  For some reason the impulse to sit down
pulled him to the ground.

        He waited for what seemed like hours, not being allowed to move from
his spot.  His crossed legs went from normal to the needling pain of falling
asleep, to numbness, and ending at a pulsating warmth that exuded pleasure
throughout Jason's body.  At the same time his eyes were pulled again to the
lettering on the pedestal.  The warmth in his legs flowed through his body and
into his eyes.  The letters began to melt, squirming around as if they were
alive.  A pattern was forming, and soon the letters reformed into words that
Jason could understand.

        "To be at one with the universe one must first be cleansed," were the
words that were formed by Jason's lips upon seeing the gold against the
blackness.   With the last syllable dying in the air, Jason's body, still
folded in a sitting position, floated off the ground and moved to a stationary
point several inches above the pedestal.

        The scenery fadeed into blackness; all that existed was the pedestal
and himself.  A golden glow enveloped him, and 5 fiery golden apples began to
slowly orbit him.  Jason's lips moved again uttering these words, "The
cleansing is now."  The apples moved faster and lost their shape,
transformed into looking simply like balls of fire.  Faster and faster the
shapes began to orbit closer to his body, and when it seemed that there was no
more speed to be gathered, the apples turned inward and slammed into his body.
There was a terrific flash of light with the now erect form of Jason flailing
in the middle of it.

        The pain was intense; it felt as if he were being shredded apart
molecule by molecule, which wasn't very far from the truth.  As the light grew
brighter his appearance changed, skinny body replaced with a lightly muscled,
completely healthy looking body.  Of course this was only a form, one of many
possibilities.  Jason's brain was restructured, containing large amounts of
information about his purpose.

        The light faded away and Jason passed out to dream uneventfully for a
while longer and to recover.  Waking up, the television is still flickering,
some old kung fu movie is on.  Surprisingly, Jason feels good, more alive than
he had in a long time.  Remembering his dream, he is shocked to find that the
information he had acquired was still in there.  He gets a glass of water and
sits down in a chair to try and sort things out.

        His memories say that he is a special person, with a special code
embedded in his genetic structure that make him the target of the beings.  The
beings, he finds out are not aliens who invade his dreams to frighten him; they
are in reality others like him searching out their brothers.  His job, he
discovers, is to find a certain number of others like him, upon which point he
will have earned his way into the Great City.

        The cleansing of outdated genetics made Jason a completely new person,
with powers to hunt down and guide others through their cleansings.  He seems
to be virtually godlike.  His memory tells of the Great City and the life that
awaits him there, making his powers in this world seem insignificant.  The
initiation was necessary, however, for on the road to the Great City there are
vast amounts of knowledge to be learned.  When enough of the instructions of
the elders are gathered, each piece to be delivered upon completion of
initiation, one can move on to the Great City where the road ends and the true
education begins.

        Jason completes several cleansings and begins to meet other of his
brothers on the way to the Great City; he is excited to continue forward along
the road.  Hundreds of years pass by in a blur of existence, yet Jason has not
attained the Great City.  Time has a way of losing meaning after a while.
Eventually the gates of the Great City are in sight, yet when he passes the
gates into town he is shocked to find only one building.  Nothing but a small
wooden shack where he had seen grand towers.  He enters the building and the
guardian speaks to him, knowing the expression on his face from endless
travelers before.  "There is no Great City, you see.  There is only the road."

        Jason looks at the guardian with disgust and says, "This is fucking
pointless, this whole fucking existence is for nothing."

        The guardian smiles and replies, "You've learned the last lesson.
You've traveled the long road of knowledge and finally came to the right
conclusion.  You've earned your passage, go on in."  He points to a new door
that appears in the back of the hut.  Puzzled but curious, Jason walks through
the doorway into the Great City.  The guardian sighs as Jason closes the door.
Another traveler walks in to the shack, and after a few words from the guardian
walks back outside and down the endless road.

  _   _   ____________________________________________________________________
/((___))\|The Dead Zone........214/522-5321|Demon Roach Undrgrnd..806/794-4362|
 [ x x ] |Grassroots...........619/460-3249|NIHILISM..............415/285-9453|
  \   /  |The People Farm......916/673-8412|Tequila Willy's GSC...209/526-3194|
  (' ')  |Lunatic Labs.........213/655-0691|The Works.............617/861-8976|
   (U)   |====================================================================|
  .ooM   |(c)1990 cDc communications by Obscure Images.          07/23/90-#145|
\_______/|All Rights Pissed Away.                                             |

