Clicks finished his workout routine and laid on the dirt staring up at the sky, people mostly ignored him by now.  He felt bored and confided in a small cage, he hasn’t been able to listen to his music or his recorder for a week now and it’s taking its toll. Everyone here were set in stone and followed the same pattern he even knew them so much that he knows what they were about to say next.

Dead Walkers on the other hand, they had a certain way of speaking and moving. It was almost predatory like they were removed the normal social cues that made a human. They herded but still watched themselves as if they were on their own. Speaking was also interesting to see between them, it was like a gurgle.

He remembered on day when he went to lead the latest migration out of town through the highway he ran towards a tree climbed up and changed out of the bells and put it on a zip line so it could make it back home. He climbed down and acted as if he was like them to see what it was that made them tick.

Some turned to him and sniffed then ignored him, some didn’t and tried to touch him to get him to react. Some stopped the others until one ‘spoke’. He stopped and slowly as he could turned to the other Dead Walkers to try and talk but they were gone when he finished turning and went on his way. Once he was past all of them did he turn and look back at them crowding the tree he was in. Some had lost interest as he was walking away and waited for the others to lose interest as well.

He started his walk back figuring that writing the new discovery was in order. He reached home and walked in the warehouse and was greeted warmly by everyone there. He was given a chocolate bar or two and he wet out to share with them. He actually felt happy to find a home that he made himself.

This place wasn’t home.

It felt like he was shipped off to work and was never allowed to go back at the end of the day. Well, maybe he can still dance here, its not like anyone is willing to stop him after all the things he did. He’ll need to find a way to get his phone to play music again and to do that he’ll need an outlet where he can charge it.

He explored the place top and bottom and the outlets were mostly used for important things. There was no room to unplug and sneak a few hours of charge. He went to Dr. Needle’s office and decided to scope out a useable outlet that wasn’t being used. He found one and plugged his phone in and went to look around for Dr. Needle.

He found him in a room filled with large tubes and equipment for testing. He walked in further seeing what he was focusing on and it seemed like he was trying to figure out what the Dark Red was. Whatever that was. He left the man alone and closed the door partly and he sat at the desk.

Rover walked in not long after and asked where Dr. Needle was and Clicks gave a shrug as he spun around on the chair bored of waiting for the man to return.

“You didn’t look around did you?”

Clicks shook his head no and tried to keep himself occupied until his phone dinged in the far corner. He rushed to it quickly, even went as far as to sliding on his knees to it. Safely having his charger out and checked the machine to see it’s still opperating he went on his way to test his music.

He plugged in his headphones and turned on the music, from there he let himself breathe a sigh of relief and started to gently sway to the music until he couldn’t take it anymore and started to move with the flow of the beats.

He spent most of his days out in the sun dancing away without a care, then he was suited for a tactical uniform. He tried it on and felt weighed down yet he still kept up his new routine and trying to keep his distance from the people trying to catch him.

They did not improve.

Soon Curtz deemed him ready to go out on those Decoy missions and he followed the orders of Rover and no one else. He gave the land a quick survey and found that the reports true. He still didn’t trust it and calculated his own escape routes just in case.

He knew how the Dead Walkers moved, and each and every time he was right to trust his own routes than one from the reports.

He stepped into the clearing and placed a ring of bells to the loop of his bootstrap and put on his music. The Dead Walkers turned to him and started towards him as he started his dance routine.

“~Eh eh eh eh ya, Eh eh eh eh ya, Setting in the street, sun is in the east~”

He started leading them down the street as they started running to him, often stopping to make sure that they caught up to him and for him to show off his dance moves. He started running again and let them try to catch him as he gathered more and danced to his hearts content.

He missed this.

He missed leading his fans across the streets and give a few of them a quick high five and went off again. 

“~I got the sunset in my pocket and I’m not afraid to use it~”

Slowing his pace with the beat of the music he kept the Dead Walkers on him until Rover would call for him to drop them and come back. He turned to his adoring fans and started firing at them and doing a little shuffle for them to catch up. He kept his eyes on his surroundings and listened for Dead Walkers to come up behind him. He dodged them and went for a quick run.

He was given orders to return and he did after making sure that they won’t get over run by Dead Walkers. He ran up to Rover and hopped in the back and sat himself down watching the town shrink behind them.

He ran more Decoy missions after the succession of the first one and he quickly became the crowd favorite.

He sat with the others and listened to them talk about wanting drinks and what drinks they prefered. Clicks kept his gear on as it was now comfortable.

He over heard them talking about a drink called a Boilermaker. He wasn’t sure what it could be but maybe it could be useful information for next time. He’ll have to be on the look out for such luxuries on his runs. Meaning he’ll need his own bag so he can gather his own supplies.

He went and visited Dr. Needle and found him in his lab working away. He noticed that he was getting frustrated about something and looked at what he could be working on.

It was a list of different types of letters and numbers.

He seen it once in movies and wondered if it was what the others were calling a Cure. He watched how it was prepared and wondered if the term he just heard would work. It might be worth a shot. Besides it looks like he wants a breakthrough soon.

So he told him his idea and haerd his phone ding and went to it and ran off, but not without leaving a few candies for his hard work.

He was out on his 14th Decoy mission and he was set out, he turned his music on and started off things slow this time. It wasn’t disturbing the Dead Walkers too much but they were still interested in him to try and tell him to keep the noise down.

He noticed that one of the Dead Walkers had magnate’s stuck to them or fridge magnates. It was odd and he wondered what else they had.

One held onto a bear, another held a hand with a ring on it.

He stopped and watched them for a few moments before moving again to keep out of their reach.

This wasn’t the first time he seen that they had attachments to something. Some weren’t even interested in him as he danced by them. He wondered how many of them had children. So he did the only childish thing he knew house and spread his arms and pretended to be an airplane. It stopped a few of them and he ran off again and switched to a dance routine that he figured some out there would be familiar with.

After he was done he did the Moon Walk to watch them as they ran after him wanting autographs.

Once he got the call he blew air kisses at his fans and lead them safely away from his group and ran back quickly. He got in and tossed his bag over to one of the guys and they looked in it and cheered excitedly. He instantly became their favorite Decoy.

He returned back to the lab and once again helped out Dr. Needle about his new discoveries. He then went to look at the restless Dead Walkers in the tubes and started signing to them wondering if they understood what he wanted to tell them. He looked over at Dr. Needle and then started whispering to the Dead Walker about cooperating to stop more from being made.

They quited down agreeing with him.

He wasn’t expecting it but it wasn’t far from the truth if the doctor was working on a cure. If anything he would want to find one too.