(Warning Cringy Content: VIOLENCE-this IS a zombie story, Zombie Pregudice, Things are going to get SPICEY)

Previously: They turn their head viewing the room with a gas mask on, holding their gun at the ready.

Once they realize the room is clear they twist the strap so their gun rests on their back. They look down at Dilan who‘s like right next to the guard’s feet. Dilan’s looking up, mouth gaping. The guard looks at their wrist. I see a glow in the dark, and start choking on all the smoke in the room, thankfully the door was starting to close behind them. Then pulling a small canister out of their utility belt they grab Dilan by the hair simultaneously cracking the container open.

“Hey!” I exclaim running forward as they yank Dilan’s face right into the concentrated smoke. I grab their arm trying to release Dilan but it’s too late. Dilan starts coughing and gasping. Dropping Dilan to the ground they backhand me, throwing me backwards to the ground. I scream as a boot stomps down on my chest holding me down as a second canister is brought out. I grab the boot writhing as they crouch, shoving it under my nose, crushing it in their gloved hand. I hold my breath. Grabbing their arm I struggle to remove it. They grab me by the chin pushing my head backwards so I couldn’t see where I was grabbing. I cough and feel my eyes tear up, lungs straining.

Finally I gasp in. I immediately feel it enter my lungs, it’s colder than the air around me and denser. I cough trying to get it out, whatever it was. ‘Stacy went mad.’ I remember the nurse saying. ‘Don’t tell me this is what made the zombies.’ I look over to Dilan, who’s curled into a ball gasping, he writhes in pain. ‘Crap.’ The guard lets me go and stands up. They mess with the device on their wrist again and then turn to leave. But before they even finish twisting I kick their knee. They catch themself and turn back around, not amused.

I struggle to my feet and wiping my running nose lunge at them. They grab me by my shirt, lifting me up higher and then slam me down against the group in an attempt to immobilize me. It works. I cough as all the air leaves my lunges then spend the next minute writhing to catch my breath. Now they’re confused, tapping their wrist. They grab another canister and then this time covering my mouth and nose, wait. I struggle, I really do, but they’re impossibly strong. My lungs scream and I start to black out, I make a few more desperate attempts to punch, claw, free my airways, anything, but they just look down at me calmly. I see my reflection, I look pathetic, weak, desperate. I feel my lungs spasm and my body lurching uncontrollably, my vision starts to black out and I feel confused, foggy. My eyes roll back a little.

Then suddenly they let go. I gasp in, my first breath is the gas from the canister. I’m suffocating on it, gasping. I squirm backwards as they get up, watching me claw away trying to find fresh air. I finally feel like I can breathe again, drool drips from my mouth as I hold my chest, I look up at them. I dunno why. Guess I was hoping their device would detect whatever they were looking for. Guess not because they make a frustrated noise and pull out a small firearm pointing it at me. I flinch terrified, ‘crap,’ and then they just stop, thinking about it I guess, I hope. 

The door is open I realize the next second. They weren't pausing for me, they had sensed something and started turning just as a zombie attacks them from behind. The zombie lets out the most god-awful screech and then a gunshot deafens me. I curled up a little bit, body aching, trying to catch my breath and by the time I look up again they had both taken quite a beating from each other. The guard is bleeding from where the zombie bit him. The zombie has a few gory gunshot wounds and they’re at a standoff.

The guard limps slowly over to the wall leaning against it, blood trickling down their armor, arm, and off of the barrel of the gun dripping to the ground. They glare and the zombie stands poised to attack again. I realize confused that as the guard stands up and half circles the zombie moves to constantly be in front of me. ‘Oh this is bizarre.’ I think. ‘A zombie, defending me? It must be,’ I look at the discolored veins on its grayish legs. The guard makes a pained groan as they stand up straight. They look past the zombie at me like I could explain to them what was going on.

Then they holster their gun holding up their hands, “You win, you can keep him alive, for now.” They turn to pick up Dilan. And I lurch forward unbalanced on my hands and knees, “No!” I exclaim and the zombie looks down, that’s when I recognize him as the zombie from the Gas-N-Get. I don’t have time to wonder how he got here, if it was a coincidence or if he was following me. The zombie then looks over at Dilan with a frown, he crouches and picks me up, throwing me over his shoulder. The guard does the same with Dilan who groans, unconscious. ‘They’re…working together?’ I think before going limp again, too tired to keep my head up none-the-less stay conscious.

I remember vaguely going through endless halls of smoke and red. Then being separated from Dilan as he’s thrown in the back of a truck and the zombie takes me to a different armed vehicle. A guard opens the door for him. I grunt as I’m quite literally thrown in and followed by the zombie. He crawls over me and just looks down as the door is shut. I try to hide my scared face but he takes both of my wrists so excited to see me for some reason. I feel little tremors going through my body and cough a few times. The driver rolls down the window and a huge freaking chunk of meat is thrown into the backseat. “Good job.” The man says and the zombies make an expression like he was annoyed at being disturbed.

Once the window is rolled back up the zombie opens his mouth a little and leans down. I turn my head away instinctively gritting my teeth and stiffening, gasping as he gently brushes the skin of my neck with his teeth. I wait for the pain but it never comes. He makes the creepiest laughing noise. ‘Is he playing with me, or does he know me from somewhere?’ I try to remember his face. I can’t think of a reason why any of this was happening or possible. He flops down on top of me, making me yelp, snuggling quite like a pet that hasn’t had enough attention. I try to stay limp but I’m tense at the same time. He calms down slowly over time and for a second I think he may have fallen asleep. But then as I’m looking down he whips his head up, grinning to see me looking, I look away quickly feeling my face burn.

He lifts his head up not unlike a snake swaying, I swallow. Then, well, then his face gets very, very close to mine. I’m panting, he has frightening eyes and every instinct in my body screams to run. I know though, that if I were to suddenly get violent with him it’d be a bad idea. I could only “run” to the other side of the car. And he might actually like that. I close my eyes, shivering as I feel his breathe on my mouth. ‘Don’t tell me he’s gonna.’

I gasp shoving him away from me. He falls backwards catching himself with an arm. His mouth is open in shock, I guess he wasn’t used to anyone being so bold. I touch my lips with shaking fingers and hold out my other hand. A tap-tap on the window separating the driver from us makes me jump. “None-of-that.” The driver says through the crack, The zombie growls. The driver ignores him, “Please keep your disgusting mouth to yourself until we get back to the lab, we need to run some tests on him before you tear him apart.” I push myself further into the seat corner. 'Tests?!'

The zombie narrows his eyes and then turns to the meat. I tuck my legs up to my chest as he tears into what is obviously a skinless torso. 'Human? Maybe. Or maybe they just wanted me to think that and it was an animal’s.' I want to ask him questions but I’m honestly speechless. Fear feels like a rock in my throat. Wiping blood from his mouth he breathes for a second head back. I realize he took, 'what, his anger, frustration, humiliation? Out on the carcass and thankfully not me.'

The zombie looks at me through his hair, and snorts with a little shake of his head. My eyes widen as Ihave a memory of a customer, I recognize him from when he wasn’t a zombie. Despite his greyer skin and bluish-black viens I’m surprised I didn’t sooner.

“You’re the creepy guy who got cigarettes and then would smoke outside my whole shift!” I whisper. “You stalked me home a few times too, oh my gosh don’t tell me you-”  He beams and then puts a finger to his lips. “You’re obsessed with me even in death.” I finish with disgust. He tilts his head and then grabbing my ankles yanks me so hard I land flat on my back, he crouches over me and I’m reminded by his expression that he’s dangerous. Heck he was dangerous in life, now he’s a zombie.

He still has quite a bit of blood on his teeth so when he growls blood drips on my cheek. I hold up my hands, looking away. He grabs my wrists pinning them above my head and growls in my face. I wince keeping my eyes shut tight, a soft humiliating whimper escapes. He huffs content and releases me, waiting until I risk looking up again. Laying down on top of me he plays with the scrub collar using sharp nails to cut it in several places making sure to make eye contact every time he makes a new tear. I get the warning. Wracking my brain trying to remember everything I can about him in life, I whisper his favorite brand of cigarettes, hoping me remembering him might distract him or make him calm down. He looks up, obviously recognizing the name. Sitting up, straddling my hips, he looks thoughtfully out the window for a while.

I realize he’s not going to move and just try to get as comfortable as I can with seat buckles digging into my body. He looks down and then points to himself. ‘Do I remember his name? I don’t think he ever told me.’ He gets off of me and taps on the window. “We’re almost there, if you’re hungry eat some more of the carcass.” The driver says without rolling the window down. The zombie snarls. “What?” The driver snaps. I shift, moving my legs very slowly and sitting up again. The zombie glances at me then I feel the car slow down. I realize I might be able to run away as the driver says, “Piss stop.” 

The zombie exits his side and I very slowly pull the door handle on mine, biting my lip when it clicks. I hold my breath when nobody seems to hear it, the second the zombie closes his door, they all lock. I arch my back and neck looking out the windows to see the zombie run off somewhere. ‘Okay, just go, don’t look back, don’t get caught.’ I whip open the door hearing the drivers exclaiming and dash into the darkness. Almost immediately breaking my kneecaps falling into the ditch and tripping over crap. I can see a wide-open field as I scramble out of it. I just sprint, pumping my arms and legs as hard as I can.

Then I hear a whoop, and laughter. I actually had the quick enough brain process to realize that the only reason the driver’s would be happy about me running away would be if I wasn’t actually escaping and something amusing was going to happen. I slow down, looking back and around harder than I hear growling. ‘Shit.’ Zombies rise up from the thigh high grass or just start crawling forward from where they were hiding. I start walking backwards as a whole pack starts circling me.

They are approaching slowly, calculating, not like my coworker that ran straight up and started tearing chucks off their victim so I might have a chance to get back to the car if I’m smart about it. I lift my hands up and move slowly as they communicate quietly. ‘They’re about to pounce, I’ve gotten at least ten feet from where they emerged, they won’t want to let me get back to the car, right?’ I glance back, mistake, one takes that opportunity to pounce. I dodge and then the rest leap forward letting out terrible guttural growls and screeches. I’m brought to the ground immediately. I fight but they have sharp claws and the only reason I’m still alive is because they’re enjoying playing with me. I cry out in pain as I feel teeth dig into my “good” arm, which I was using to protect my face.

Multiple hands try to pin my flailing legs and I get in a few good kicks before I can’t move from the waist down. I scream again as one of them starts trying to eat me. Starting at the thigh, I was really glad I was wearing jeans because it was a rather bad bite. Another and another grab my arms pinning them to either side of me, the one that bit it before lets go, then they all look up eager for someone to finish the kill.

Their leader looked creepily human, no blood, no crazy, at least yet. Just intimidating as heck in the moonlight, it made the gray skin look normal, I almost wait for him to speak. But his reflective eyes flash and he growls and he’s no longer human. As he crouches, crawling forward I realize he’s going for the neck and I struggle, “Wait, wait, please.” That only makes them all more excited, he sniffs me then growling opens his mouth to reveal sharper teeth than normal.

Something flies through the air and decks him in the face. The carcass. The zombies all release me and turn to the attacker simultaneously only to get confused as they realize it’s another zombie. The next second the stalker zombie pounces on the leader rolling over and over, clawing and snarling until one of them is pinned. I scramble to my feet only for a zombie to be like, ‘nope,’ and pin my arm behind my back, slamming me onto my stomach. Forcing me to watch the gruesome fight. 'Please win.' I think about my stalker. But at this point it looks like both are going to lose.