To begin with, as usual, I blame Effar. She's a very good friend and Beta who, unlike what normal people would do when I approached them with such a ludicrous concept, supported me all the way. It's amazing and thank you so much! Thank you very much for allowing me to ruin the innocence of anyone who will read this story XD Without further ado, here goes my take on... Zombies and Turtles...
(Warning - Contains Extreme Violence and Filthy, Unsettling Descriptions. Dosage: To Be Taken As Prescribed)
TMNT © Nickelodeon
Hunger © Turtlefreak121
Hunger
Chapter One: Outbreak
My brothers and I were crossing this barren wasteland that used to be a pretty corner otherwise known as Central Park when we came across a distressed woman. For us at this point it was a little less than unusual to see these fine specimens in boisterous glory, screaming and running toward us with a twisted, frozen expression of horror on her face.
We had to be critical, however, and we immediately went about setting ourselves in a shell to shell arrangement, our eyes set upon the screaming woman.
Defense was our greatest protection and only option until we found out whether or not this woman had been infected.
That's right. I said "infected."
It had been two months since the outbreak of the zombie virus had taken effect across our great state, nearly three months since the first case had been reported somewhere in North Canton, Ohio. Good job, Buckeyes.
I was as skeptical as you when I first heard the news and wasn't all that willing to believe that something so... droll and unimaginative as a modern day Syfy Channel special was possible in reality. But I must assure you it is, I can tell you for certainty.
As usual we had Leonardo at the head of our group and he was none too surprised with our little guest either. We had been going through Central Park in broad daylight lately because with our sewer stank we ranked too much like a corpse for the Afflicted to pay all that much attention to us. Sometimes Michelangelo even bent over and pretended to limp while jokingly moaning and groaning.
Raphael used it as a sort of camouflage for when he went "head hunting" in the midst of the Concrete Jungle. Leo and I both just appreciated the fact that it ordinarily kept us from being bitten, eaten, or unintentionally devoured by the zombies. All would be a most gruesome fate, after all.
That day, however, we had just had a bath for Master Splinter and Klunk's sensitive noses could no longer tolerate the consistent fragrance of feces and stagnant water on us any longer.
We had the option of bathing at Casey's apartment or never coming home again. We opted for the first.
Our scent's "natural" camouflage was no longer on our side and it was a grave possibility that this screaming woman was A) a zombie with a problem with keeping her affliction secret, or B) being chased by a group of zombies.
You're thinking "Oh, she's being chased by zombies!? Why aren't you saving her?" to which I must reply, "No, we're fine with our non-infected, non-eaten lives and no matter how many times we try that scenario it just does not seem to work out for us in the end."
I mean, damn it, there are more of those sick things now than there are people in New York. This is, of course, with the exception of Little Italy. The zombies seem to know not to go there for some reason.
Zombies don't last long against Sicilians.
The woman was still shrilling at the top of her lungs. By that time she was close enough for us to see her rotten flesh hanging off her neck like some sort of dangling wobble on a turkey.
Her once fair face was shrouded by the tanned leather hide stretched over it like a thin plastic bag, ripping at the jaw's unhinged seams. She even smelled like a putrid, rotting corpse as she came squealing, running at us like a mother bear protecting its cubs.
Well... I do suppose she was a rotting corpse which made her an exception to basic hygiene and facial care edicate.
"Ah, it's only one," Raph muttered in blatant disappointment as he straightened and spun his Sai expectantly.
I looked to my brother and frowned at the familiar, near-homicidal gleam in his eyes. He was in Head Hunter mode and I should have expected no less after he and Casey had been spending the time feverishly overjoyed with the concept of bagging some more animated corpses that day.
"She looks like the one at the top floor of the original 'Silent Hill,' guys!" Mike exclaimed as he jumped joyously at the opportunity to put his moves into practice. "You remember? You remember?"
"Yes, I remember," Raph snapped snidely. "I had to beat that level for you!"
"And I had to stay up with you because of the nightmares," Leo responded dryly before looking at the sickeningly green sludge of decaying matter and congealed gastric acid spewing from the opened wound in her stomach, no doubt where her fellow Afflicted had decided to snack.
At the same time as Leo, I felt an uncomfortable raise of bile in the back of my throat and it occurred to me why I had been getting so close to my older brother in the past few months.
Neither of us could tolerate the dirty, gritty aspects of these damned undead messes.
"Who wants dibs?" Raph asked as the beast was upon us, scratching and clawing the air with its broken, bloody fingernails before it ever came close to us.
"Me! ME!" Mike exclaimed.
I felt my stomach lurch forward and I almost lost it right there at the thought of the unholy mess that would ensue if either of those two actually began to go Zombie Slaying right then and there. Neither of them had any sentiment toward the Afflicted Creatures.
"What do you say, Leo?" Raph grinned.
Our fearless, pale leader ground his teeth and shook his head. "Sure, from a distance, though, Mike - you get infected and I'll have to explain to Klunk why he's an orphan."
In truth, Leo didn't want them to go against the zombie woman at all, but what can you do when you can't necessarily admit that you still feel sympathy toward the things that are trying to kill you. He would do it if it was an overwhelming threat, which this injured, brainless zombie was not, but while it was nothing more than a rabid dog... It's like putting down Old Yeller for instance.
Mike rushed forward and dodged the useless swipes of the Undead Mistress before grabbing a strip of metal debris lying across the well treaded, blood soaked earth of lovely Central Park and smacking her against the head, bursting her skull open like a piñata with the tissue matter of her long ago dead brain as replacement for the candy.
Raph laughed and I just about hurled, turning around to keep myself from getting too over excited by the instance.
Leo grabbed my shoulder. "You alright, Don?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'll be fine," I gasped as I calmed my breath.
Herein laid my problem during the Zombie Apocalypse.
No matter how hard I tried, I could not get myself to view the Zombie Slaughter as anything more than murder. And I'm not even sure why that bothered me so much because I had killed before, no problem. Don't screw with me or my family. Some people need to be taken out before they take out someone else, etcetera etcetera.
But before the outbreak of Swine Flu in the early months of 2009, there had not really been anything these people would have done to others. Certainly they would not have done anything punishable by death. These were sick, stricken ill humans and animals who had somehow obtained an over reactive immunity to an uncommon flu strand.
I know, you're wondering why the immunity caused the outbreak rather than the flu strand itself. That's simple, though - trust me, I'm a scientist.
When people built up an immunity to a bad case of flu they began to panic and suddenly every sucker wanted an immunity to every known disease out there. Hell, they were even selling immunization shots for the common cold at one point.
That was enough of a "super immunity" that it became overactive in their own systems. Essentially, with no bacteria or viruses to fight the T-Cells and immunity of people's own bodies said "Fine, we'll take control." They did and began attacking their hosts like the viruses that they had been used to fight.
Basically, the brain and other organs other than the heart and lungs carried no use anymore and the only instincts that survived in the formerly intelligent species were to eat and kill.
We were basically living in the midst of a Flea Market gun show and there's TONS and TONS of people swarming us to get the rifle we just bought. The only thing is, fortunately, zombies are not as scary.
The zombie hit the ground and I finally composed myself enough to look over her with the others.
"Good job, Mike," Leo grunted over his swallowed breath.
Raph laughed and clapped a hand on our triumphant brother's shoulder as the once innocent turtle slung his bloodied weapon down to keep its dripping end cleared of clotting material. Raphael gleamed. "You're moving gaming to a whole new level, Bro."
And indeed, he had. That was all this was to my brothers: a game.
Even Leo was playing more than I was - he needed to keep himself and the rest of us alive. I did not have that same killer desire.
I found myself in a world of zombies with no inspiration for hunting them.
But I knew I had to overcome this fast because the Afflicted's hunger was only growing. And it was growing fast.
A/N: Shout out to everyone from the places mentioned - you know I really love you guys, that's why I kid like that ;P As for the story, if you didn't catch on, "Afflicted" is what I'm going to use as a pseudonym for our little zombie friends.
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