*Please note that it contains themes of non-consent/reluctance. All main characters involved are over the age of 18.
It has been about 6 months since the zombie apocalypse started and I'm nearly out of food. It all felt so surreal back then, watching the events unfolding in front of me on the television in my comfortable air conditioned apartment. A small outbreak of an unknown variant. Linked to well known Ophiocordyceps unilateralis. The zombie fungus. Overtaking the minds of ants, making them do strange things. Apparently this new virus was attacking people. "Easily containable" the president dismissed with a flashy smile. "Just a couple of rabid patients in a high security hospital. I can assure every man, woman and child that they will be safe"
Well now almost every man, woman and child is either dead, dying, or worst of all, undead. They roam the streets, forests, plains, attacking what few healthy people are left. I have no idea what's going on these days with all the radio stations, wifi towers and networks being in disrepair. All I can guess is that the spread of disease is likely world wide at this point. I look around my tiny den situated in the back of an old van at the edge of a small town scrap yard and take note of what megear supplies I have. My location probably isn't the best but I stay in this place for sentimental reasons. It's the hometown where I grew up.
Because the population of this place was so lacking to begin with, when the virus swept through, there really weren't many people to infect. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person alive in this place and I haven't seen a zombie here for months. Surviving on a perishable supply of canned goods and random game shot in the woods on the outskirts of town has proved difficult but I manage. I'm also very fortunate to have a well nearby to collect clean water when I need it. It's a lonely life out here and I go to sleep every night with a gun in my hand but hey, I'm still alive, aren't i?
I sometimes wonder why I haven't been turned yet. Near the start of the apocalypse when everyone was dead or getting infected, I found myself being cornered by what was once a sweet young woman who helped run the local barbers shop. Her eyes were wild and her dirty arms and legs were riddled with thick black veins spider webbing across her skin. The source of her changing, a deep, infected gash on her neck told me that she was too far gone. I gritted my teeth and prepared to shoot her when my gun jammed. Before I had a chance to react, she had thrown herself at me, knocking me off my feet. We struggled for a while on the ground and I finally managed to put a bullet into her head, but not before she bit down on my hand with her tiny teeth.
Terrified, I rushed to the stream in the woods and tried desperately to wash out the wound knowing in my heart that it was probably much too late to do anything but accept my fate. For the next couple of weeks I waited for the infection to begin, for my mind to start slipping away into madness. A month later, I had lost nothing but a couple of kilos of body fat from hunger. Maybe I was just lucky this time. The infection got just about everyone so maybe she hadn't bitten deep enough.
Either way, I've kept a very low profile ever since. Only venturing out during the day time, taking food from the tiny supermarket and keeping an eye out for the zombies. Today as I walk down to the old store to see if there are any tins left that have fallen behind the shelves, I feel a strange tingling in my belly. I grip my gun in my hand and step through the huge broken glass door to the supermarket. It's dark inside as usual but that's not what makes the hairs on the back of my neck raise up. I hear something, deep within the store. I can't quite decide if it's the soft hissing of wind through a gap in the bricks or if it's something more ominous. Against my better judgement, I venture further in. I don't know if it's bravery that draws me forth or a complacent sense of safety with my gun in my hand but I keep going towards the sound.
It's now unmistakable. The murmuring of a voice. My heart leaps for a second. Maybe its a person! Maybe I'm not the only living being around here after all! I creep towards it and it seems to be coming from behind the cashier. As soon as I go around to have a look and introduce myself however, my heart immediately leaps into my throat. It's not a person after all. At least, not any more. I take in the sight of him. Skin rotting, eyes sunken, black veins running along grey flesh. I bring my gun up to shoot but then pause.he looks about 19 and he's hunched up like a scared child murmuring things to himself. He seems so...harmless. In fact, he doesn't even seem to notice me and his eyes remain fixed on his shaking hands. Something brings my arm down and I toss the gun away from me. Why the hell did I just do that?
At the sound of the clattering weapon, he raises his green eyes and looks at me. His face transforms into a huge smile causing a maggot to drop out of the side of his mouth. I want to gag. I want to retrieve my gun but I can't seem to move. I am transfixed by the strange genuinity of his happiness at seeing me. "I've finally found her," he whispers, climbing to his feet and facing me. "My love, my heart, the bearer of the future" Now I'm terrified. Since when could they speak so coherently? I make a leap towards my gun but it's too late. He lunges at me, grabbing me with surprising force and pulls me further into the depths of the dark supermarket. I'm struggling and screaming and trying to locate my gun but he hauls me onwards and tosses me onto the ground a few meters away.