X Nick X

"Ain't ever seen one a'them," Ellis chirped from my side, hunkering down to get a closer look at our strangest find. "Not even when we was still with Coach and Ro."

It'd been nearly three years since we'd gone our separate ways after making it to a failed evacuation. Ellis and I had been forced to wait for a second chopper, the first had been filled to capacity and our team mates were on it. I managed to squash down the urge to shudder, recalling the sight of the helicopter losing control and falling from the sky like a meteor.

"We should leave it," I urged, standing to my full height, "or we can take it out now, before it comes back to kill us."

"S'just a baby, Nick," the hick gasped, "that's cruel."

"It's an infected baby, El," I sighed, glancing at him to gauge a reaction. My sights settled on the gray-skinned infant, it's eyes an eerie yellow. It was barely covered by what appeared to be a tattered pillowcase, dark veins like spiderwebs running little courses all over the baby.

"Doesn't it make ya jus' a little bit curious?"

"You know what they say about curiosity," I deadpanned, "let's keep moving." I didn't want to spend much more of our time coming up with theories about how the infected little came to be.

Ellis stood, a look of guilt passing over his features. His blue eyes were lined with shallow tears, lips pressed into a thin line.

"I don't wanna leave 'em, Nick," he tried, "what if it'll be normal again? Then we're jus' as good as baby killers."

I pinched the bridge of my nose and groaned briefly. The singular way I was approaching this was that the little that squirmed in the grass was going to grow and make a meal out of us both. Zombies had one-track minds and that was humans for dinner.

"And what if it's just like any other infected? Interested in being babyfood, Overalls?"

Ellis frowned deeply, squatting down again after a moment. I held my breath as he slid his hands under the neck and back of the infant, their contrasting skin tones extremely stark in the midday sunshine. The baby grunted and squirmed as Ellis lifted it from the ground, a low whimper bubbling out of it's tiny throat.

"See?" Ellis huffed, shifting to cradle the infant in the crook of his elbow. The placement settled the child, a yawn rolling out of the open mouth. I squinted to study that mouth, seeing a row of sharp teeth ring the teeny cavern. "Jus' a little baby, not so scary."

"It's got shark teeth," I pointed out, "and look at its fingers, those are claws. It's equipped to kill and eat us at five months old."

We stared at one another, stubborn on both sides. Ellis wanted to care for the seemingly helpless infant, I wanted to dispose of it before it took a chunk out of us or summon a horde. We spent nearly twenty minutes debating and arguing about the situation before I'd finally conceded.

"Christ," I grumbled, "we can bring it with us to the next safe house, but if a horde attacks, I'm throwing that little fucker in the middle of it."

"No yew won't," Ellis declared, "I ain't leavin' a little babe to fend for itself and neither are yew."

"And if it bites one of us?" I asked, "then what? I'm not living out the rest of my life as a fucking zombie, neither are you."

Our squabbling was interrupted by a small cry, the infant's face scrunched up unhappily. The cry almost as soon as it started, amplified to a wail.

"Yer upsettin' him!"

"Or it's calling for it's undead parents!" I quipped, fingers tightening around the handgun I'd drawn.

Ellis stifled the cries, bringing the infant to his shoulder and rubbing it's back. We stood in relative quiet, listening for signs of other infected. I jumped at the sound of a gurgling, quiet growl somewhere to our left.

With my magnum raised, I slowly ventured forward to investigate the noise. I nearly leapt from my skin when the sight of a mangled body came into view.

Laying crumpled in the tall grass was a hunter, it's hood torn off with only pieces remaining of it's sweatshirt. The hunter looked odd, gray skin dappled with patches of peach colored flesh. Stranger still, it appeared to be female. Her face was covered in blood, which stained what had once been mousy brown hair. I studied her, noting everything odd about her predicament.

The hunter was gravely wounded, bite and claw marks littering her exposed flesh. Dark blood oozed from a deep gash along her collarbone, thick and viscous and unable to fully clot. Another gurgle emerged from her, her right hand reaching out with weakness.

The infant screamed from Ellis' hold a few meters away, making the huntress before me jerk. Her legs were twisted in the wrong ways, so I had no fear of being pounced upon. Ellis came over, a .22 in his unoccupied hand. The hunter snarled, yellow eyes fixated on the infant that was only feet away from her.

"This yer baby?" Ellis asked, although neither of us expected much of a response. She hissed, her hand reaching for him with a terrible amount of effort, the appendage shaking with the strain.

The southerner turned the child around to face the hunter, it's screams vanishing when it focused on her. A low purr sounded from the huntress, but it abruptly ended as blood welled from the wound expanding her entire chest. Clawed hands dropped and she coughed, dark blood splattering the grass and rolling down her chin.

Ellis hesitated, but deposited the small creature onto the hunter's stomach, eyeing her talons as he did.

"What the fuck..."

The baby shifted as the huntress' weak arms came to cradle it. She lifted the tattered remains of her sweatshirt, exposing breasts that looked painful and swollen. The tiny zombie latched on almost immediately, making me squirm uncomfortably. Ellis' face held a look similar to my own, confused and somewhat repulsed.

"That answers that," he boasted, "that's 'is momma."

I didn't know what was worse - Ellis being able to pick up on the zombie-bond or the fact that zombies could reproduce by means not including infection. Speculation wasn't important at this point.

"She's dyin'," the hick murmured, removing his cap to hold it against his chest, "she can't even get up." I didn't know how to respond to that, my eyes still locked onto the mother and child pair before me.

The huntress met my gaze, something I didn't think possible of a zombie. Her claws curled closer around the little, a ragged breath leaving her lips. Her brows knit together and she opened her mouth, a strained whisper creeping out.

"T'k 'err," she rumbled, her arm dropping to the side. She coughed a few more times, droplets of blood dotting the baby's dirty skin further. "...take.." a wheeze stopped her from speaking more.

"You want us to take 'er?" Ellis repeated, kneeling to stand closer. The huntress hissed in pain, her upper body now completely slack.

"Take..."she tried again, "m-my...little girl.."

Nothing could ever top this strange afternoon in my book. Ellis had found a child, later it's dying mother, and now she wanted us to take the baby.

I opened my mouth to ask some questions, but I'd been too late. The huntress' eyes glazed over after one last loving look toward the spawn at her breast. She was gone.

X Ellis X

I tried not to concern myself with what Nick's thoughts were on the matter of our newest addition. She was asleep where she lay between my overalls and tshirt, tiny clawed fingers embedded in my favorite shirt. We were only another mile or so from the next safe house, or so the markers indicated.

"I like Charlotte fer a name," I said to break the silence, "she never did tell us her name."

Nick's green eyes looked steely, his eyebrows drawn in to scowl at me.

"We're not going to name it," he snapped, "we should have just done it and it's mother a favor and killed them both."

"D'ya have to be such an ass?" I spat, "did ya see her momma? She was half human, Nick!"

"Or she was in the middle of turning," he shot back angrily, "we don't know shit about these things. Let alone babies!"

I lifted a hand to place it on the tiny girl's back as she whimpered softly, raising it's twin to cup the back of her head comfortingly. She stilled and sighed, cute button nose nuzzling into the cotton shirt. My heartstrings pulled and I leveled an angry stare with Nick.

"Her momma was turning back," I pressed, "she died before she finished an' left little Charlotte with us, 'cause we ain't bad people." I was convinced of that.

Nick seemed to relent slightly, but his lips pressed into a thin line. He looked like he wanted to believe that, but he was so god damned skeptical.

"...it can stay-"

"Ya mean it?!"

"-until it tries to take a bite, then it's as good as dead, Ellis."

As much as I didn't like it, I agreed finally. I tried to see it from both perspectives, as immoral as Nick's was. Nick was concerned with only our wellbeing, I was worried about little Charlotte making it out here all by her lonesome.

"S' a girl," I griped, "and we're gonna call 'er Charlotte." The conman shook his head and kept trekking forward without another word. I glanced down again at the baby girl snoozing in my hold. If it weren't for her skin and claws, she'd look like a regular baby.

We'd made it to our destination before the sun had gone away completely, the sky was tinged with baby blue, hues of yellows, and the outlines of pink from behind the clouds. I smiled at the sight, absently patting Charlotte's little behind.

"Yew wanna see, Lottie?" I asked as she roused, removing her from my overalls and holding her facing out. "See the clouds n' the settin' sun?"

Nick snorted in impatience, leaning on the wall of the front of the house. He didn't seem amused in my sharing the experience of a sunset with our littlest member. I didn't care when she cooed, the noise alone making my heart feel all melty.

"The sun goes down fer bed so the moon can wake up," I told her, pointing at the moon in its faraway location, "see? He's up n' 'attem!"

Her tiny Cupid's bow lips were pulled into a smile, the tiny fangs seeming white against her dark gums. I felt my spirits lift at the sight, beaming with her while we looked at the sky.

"Come inside, El," Nick ordered softly, "we need to eat and get some rest."

I obeyed, carrying Charlotte inside and closing the door behind us. Nick had lit a few candles and was beginning a fire in the fireplace for us to settle at.

We ate our cans of ravioli in silence, save for the sound of Charlotte attempting to crawl into my lap. Nick watched her with cold eyes as her little claws gained purchase on my shirt, effectively snagging on the material. I did my best to ignore him and freed a hand to help her sit, her back leaning on my stomach.

"Yew want summa this?" I asked her, spearing a ravioli with my fork and taking a few bites out of it to make it small enough for her. She perceptively opened her mouth, being fed solids wasn't a lost concept. I deposited the bit on her tongue, eyeing the razor sharp ring of teeth surrounding the blackened muscle. Charlotte's face screwed up and she spat the piece out of her mouth, nearly shrieking at the taste. I laughed and god, it'd been so long since the last time I had.

"It probably wants flesh," Nick scoffed, "or milk."

"She prolly hasn't tried Chef Boyardee," I insisted, wiping up the regurgitated food with a nearby rag, "I reckon her momma didn't getta chance to give her much else."

Nick did not reply, scraping out the final pasta pocket and sauce before placing the can aside. He heaved a long sigh and scrubbed his ringed fingers over his face, chancing a look at Charlotte, who was exploring her toes in my lap.

"I'm gonna get some shuteye," Nick announced, "you've got first watch." The gambler took off his suit coat and balled it up for a makeshift pillow, laying down and closing his eyes.

"...I love yew," I told him softly, "g'night."

"Love you too, El," Nick replied, a tired and small smile gracing his face.

I settled back against the wall, Charlotte's fist balled up and in her mouth, yellow eyes on me. She kicked her little feet out, getting comfortable for our shared watch.