I wake up in the head scientist's office. I start and then grab my ribs wincing. He’s smoking a cigar and looking out the window at a fight. 

“Um.” I start to say. 

“You got roughed up pretty bad but you’re incredibly lucky.” He says without turning to look at me. “You’re still in one piece and so you’ll heal, eventually.” He raises an eyebrow at me and my bandaged limbs. 

“How did I get here?” I ask and touch my freshly bandaged neck. 

“I ordered you brought here. The guard that bit you, unceremoniously dumped you on the floor of my office.” I can’t help but smirk as I realize I have to ask which one? Probable Nine, ‘That ass.’ The head scientist watches my reaction closely. Seemingly realizing our relationship wasn’t what he originally thought. 

“Why don’t you tell me what happened?”

I rub my head for a bit, “I asked the scientist with a clipboard for food and a shower and then one thing led to another I ended up-”

“In the guard's dorms.” He finishes voice sounding dangerously pissed. I nod, paying a bit more attention. ‘Is he upset at me?’ 

“I already watched all the camera footage,” he says. I guess hinting that he wanted to know if it wasn’t what it looked like, he’s obviously thinking hard about something. 

“I’m going to send you back to specimen zero for now, he’s been inconsolable.” I stand slowly gasping a little as a spike of pain goes through me. “I want something from you.” He says blocking me from leaving as I stand in the doorway. 

“What?” I ask and feel stress start affecting my vision again. 

“I’m not one to demand monogamy on anyone.” He starts and I flush with shame, “But aim all of that attention on specimen zero for a little while. He’s not stupid.” He takes a long drag from the cigar tasting it for a while then finishes, “I’m still cleaning up the previous mess. And now I find out you are driving a lot of the other specimens mad.” He doesn’t concede any more information and gestures for a guard to escort me.  

I walk slowly, limping, ‘why was my hospital stay cut short? Part of a punishment or they couldn’t afford to keep me separated from specimen zero that much longer?’ Thankfully the guard gives me time and space to breathe. I can’t help but feel anxious on how specimen zero is going to react to me and the fact that I was starting to be a troublemaker to the head scientist. 

“Hey wait.” 

The guard puts his arm out in front of me as a familiar face approaches. I actually relax a little bit when I see the Driver. 

He smiles in pity, “Well that didn’t take long.” He gestures to my infected skin and eyes. I shrug, “Guess I wasn’t immune afterall.” 

“Do you really need the muzzle?” He asks, taking a step forward but the guard stops him. He holds out his hand,

“Don’t come any closer.” 

The Driver raises his eyebrows, “How’s the shoulder?” 

I blink honestly I’d forgotten about it. 

I roll it, “Better.” I smile. He nods at the guard who was giving him the move along glare.

“I’ll check on you and zero later.” He informs me with an eye roll.

I watch him walk away and then feel a lot better entering the familiar room. I look around, they’ve replaced the doctor and cleaned up the blood from the previous one. I touch my neck and realize my hands are shaking. The guard stands in front of the doors and watches as I don’t move. I just stare at the large stain on the floor of the cell. Looks like they only sprayed the concrete with water. 

I blink rapidly as I try to fight the flashback ‘the roar of pain and blood rushing in my ears I hear myself screaming from far away. The zombie as well. I look down at blood, it's all over me, I panic, what happened?’ I try to roll over but my body is so tense. I seize up again and my vision fills with red. ‘Blood, everything…hurts, am I dying?’ I try to scream but as I gasp in I'm back in the room albeit much shakier. I breathe for a second. I don’t think I can do this. I don't think I can stay here. 

Specimen zero is sitting with his back to me. I want to say something but I can’t. My skin has gone completely gray with the dark blue veins, my teeth ache from wanting to bite. I’m thirsty. I look around for some sort of guidance but eventually realize no one cares and nobody’s going to hold my hand. I have to approach him on my own. I walk a wide berth around the cage and stand where he can see me. 

His head is in his arms. He’s covered in recent wounds which immediately causes a sharp breath to catch in my teeth. He snaps his head up snarling, beautiful gray eyes red from crying and then freezes. Looking at me like he knows he recognizes me but it hasn’t clicked yet. His skin is always gray and the veins are full of black goo. But the whites of his eyes never turn black like mine currently are. I watch him scan my pale irises.

I wince hurt when he lets out a warning growl. Then my eyes widen when I hear his voice very clearly like another language slowly translating in my brain. 

“Who the fuck are you?!” 

My shocked response makes him wipe his eyes and frown at me. I can’t speak. 

‘I…I really like the sound of his voice.’ I think to myself. This whole time his growling and zombie noises had been terrifying but now I can understand them. He also smells good too in a familiar way. I know that my senses have been altered because nothing has changed with him. I can sense that his virus and mine are the same.  I wonder which one of mine is? It’s completely different than with One. With Zero there’s none of the pull or that desperation to please, to submit, a little fear and infatuation. As I stare into his eyes I only feel a slight familiarity. 

And I’m super relieved, of course our viruses would be the same, they wouldn’t intentionally infect us with different ones when I was supposed to keep him in check. 

He makes a questioning clicking noise and comes closer to the bars. I see him still trying to work out why he recognizes me. But denying it at the same time. His eyes fill with hope and anxiety, “Rory?” 

I nod and he pulls away making a few expressions I can’t read. “They turned you into a zombie? Like me?” 

“Yeah I, remember my neck was-” I stop. I’m speaking in growls, still not used to speaking in zombie. He nods understanding me. 

“I’m sorry.” He says, “It’s my fault.” I look at his wounds, some of them are burns like he was shocked with a cattle prod. 

“What happened, what did they do to you?!” I raise my voice, shaking a little bit with anger. He turns away a little bit and then presses up against the bars ignoring the question.

“What are you doing,” he snorts, “come here.” He reaches out gently. 

That’s when he realizes I’m scared. I stand just out of reach, mouth open trying to console him but he looks devastated for a second. 

Then his expression calms and he asks, “Are you going to be alright?” I bite my lip, ‘no I’m scared I don’t want to be a zombie. I hate that almost everyone's first instinct here is to try to kill you. Am I just dumb why wouldn’t it be, they're all infected and or insane.’

“Are you scared of me?” He asks. “I’m not going to hurt you.” I want to be comforted so I step forward and press my forehead against the bars. I watch him sniff me, tense to see his response and his mouth opens like a cat. I look at his teeth. They’re different from mine too. More human. I can see he doesn’t like it but then when he sees my worry he smiles at me. Actually smiles. I feel shock and then attraction. 

“Were you worried I’d freak out that you smell like the Ragdoll, Nine and who is that? The host?” He whispers. I nod. 

“I am… jealous.” He narrows his eyes at me. And I start, I look away guilty, especially about the intern. He watches my reaction. Then pulling me closer he kisses me. “You’re mine.” He growls into my mouth and I shiver. “Please… you’re mine?” He whimpers.

I lower my guard immediately and sink to my knees as he guides us down to the floor. I let him trace my lips, teeth, and tongue with his. I whimper in response to his growl at tasting someone else on my tongue. Right now I just want him to comfort me. And to relax. He continues to kiss me for a while then touches me gently with tugs on my arm. “Do you want to come in here?” 

He pants looking down embarrassed. I look at the door and decide to try it. My limited access ID beeps and the door opens. Surprising me. I have clearance to his cage. I stop and look at him, waiting expectantly. 

“Do you,” I gesture away, “want to go to my room, where it’s more comfortable?” ‘And I don’t have to worry about flashbacks,’ I wince remembering the feeling of the doctor's warm blood spraying on my face.’ “And there’s more privacy?”

He stands up and approaches the door, hesitantly looking at the guard who is minding his own business. Then tentatively steps out of the cage. 

Nothing happens and he lets out a relieved sigh, “It’s okay since I didn’t get shocked.” I feel my eyes drawn to his burn marks. He covers one and says, “I was trying to get to you. I knew that they'd probably turn you but I couldn’t think straight.” 

I press my lips together and pull him into a hug where he immediately squeezes too tight and I let out a yell of pain. To my surprise the guard actually steps forward. At the same time the zombie asks me, “Why?!” He seems to notice the bandages in a new light. And I see his eyes darken. 

“I’ll explain later.” I whisper, voice actually working, glancing at the guard again who seems to realize it was an accident. I pull on the zombie just wanting to be alone with him. “Let’s go, please.” My voice cracks and the zombie snaps out of its eyes filling with brief protective emotion. 

“Your room?” The guard double checks and then gestures for us to follow, leading me to a door on the far right side of the lab. He opens the door for us and escorts me and the surprisingly cowering zombie down a side hallway I haven’t been before. I squint as we enter a place with windows and stop looking out them briefly. 

“You may be allowed to go outside later, I wouldn’t recommend it with your current injuries.” I glance at the sky, how many days have I been here. I have no way of keeping count I think as I keep walking down the wide window filled hall. I feel like it’s been less than a week. With the first day spent with the zombie, three or four days for the infection to take and then the time I spent at the guard’s dorms. 

I hesitate looking around wide eyed as we enter another place bustling with young adults in collars and even some muzzles. They have books and normal food and are sitting at tables talking, growling and laughing. If you didn’t see various forms of infection and the lab logo whitewashed uniforms you’d assume it was a college campus or something. 

The guard pushes us along as an eerie silence spreads through the previously very loud space. Suddenly whispers erupt and I feel a tingle go down my spine at all the eyes on us. I stand tall despite being wounded and muzzled, looking straight ahead. 

Some of them stand to crane their necks, getting a better look. I feel my veins pulsing and look far more intimidating as I get more stressed. Specimen zero makes a noise watching my skin lose color and resemble his. I feel him clasp my dark dead fingers in his. They are almost as curious about specimen zero clinging to the back of my shirt his shoulders hunched over, as to me and why I’m with him.  

The space ends in another door leading to a hallway perpendicular to the one we just crossed. I look back at what is probably some sort of round community center. The dorm rooms started against the fall wall. 

I realize that they probably looked out over the outdoor spaces. 

Then the door shuts and we start down the other hallway. I look out the window at the trees and garden. It looks peaceful, like a park. I even see a bird landing in the branches of a tree.

Until someone slams a bloody hand against the window and I’m reminded I’m living in a zombie apocalypse. The guard reaches for their weapon only to get flipped off by the zombie. He’s smiling with a busted nose and bloody teeth and then locks eyes with me. He realizes he doesn’t recognize me and starts following as the guard pushes us to keep going. His eyes are green.

Unlike the other zombies I’ve seen, his skin is white and icy blue accents on his fingertips and lips instead of dark blue or black. Maybe he’s one of the other viruses. I stand up straighter starting to lift my arm as he waves goodbye but I’m shoved into the next area before I can fully react. 

I notice a lot more of the blue zombies, they are…pretty. Pale eyes and ghostly skin accented with pale blue almost like they froze to death. They all seem much more relaxed as well, holding books or drinks in a comfy library like space. I wonder if they think I’m ugly with my gray skin and dark veins looking wrought with infection. I glance at specimen zero and he has hatred burning in his eyes. 'Oh well that’s not good.'

The guard keeps leading us in the circle and I realize he may be giving us some sort of a silent tour. I don’t say anything as we end up almost right back where we started. He points at the door, this is yours. Next door is specimen zeros. I scan my keycard and open the door, not sure what I was expecting. Like a hotel or an empty dorm. 

I let my eyes adjust to the dark stepping in onto the carpet and looking at the bed. Made. Then specimen zero enters and he looks at me before flopping on my bed. I smirk. I turn back to the guard who has his arms crossed.

“There’s a map and instructions on how to use the cafeteria and library, as well as the rules. Don’t start a fight you don’t plan on finishing. Don’t be too loud.” He glances at specimen zero briefly, “or your neighbors may kill you. That's pretty much it. If you need anything then you didn’t read the pamphlet. If you have any questions, ask someone else. Bye.” He leaves.