Pseudo-Zombie
Life savior:
So….that is it, right? That's the way how Tallahassee is going to die. No ammo, other useful weapons broken and no goddamn Twinkie but stupid fucking Snowballs and dead zombies around him! Oh yeah, also trapped in an empty Shop with a broken leg and a zombie in front of him. Fan-fucking-tastic, really.
He will so NOT die like this. That zombie will see what it gets when it attacks him…
…any moment now…
…any…moment…?
Tallahassee, the name he called himself when he met the two girls Little Rock and Wichita, was watching said Zombie. Once used to be a collage boy it seems? Dirty curly hair, a yellow pullover with jeans also covered in dirt and blood. That zombie can be called happy for having still all its limbs.
It was strange that the zombie still stood there, watching him. Its eyes were different from the other zombies. While the others had empty grey and glassy looks in their eyes, this one's were shining green with curiosity. The redneck smirked at the thought. A curious zombie? His smirk vanished as the zombie slowly takes a step towards him. "It's going on now, huh?" he mumbles, making the other flinch. Tallahassee rose one eyebrow up, looking at the dead kid. "Scared?"
The zombie moaned and gave him chocking noises. It made itself smaller, crouching. Then it slowly moved nearer. "Don't ya dare…" Tallahassee growled, pleased that he was able to scare a zombie with his words. The dead person came to a halt. But then it moved again towards him. Its eyes then moved from the man's eyes to the sweets lying beside him. Tallahassee cocked his head to the side, irritated by the zombie. Said zombie flinched away by his movements and then quickly grabbed the Snowballs. Two or three packages were grabbed and Tallahassee could only stare at this strange creature crawling in safety distant away from him. Immediately the first package was open and the college zombie ate with large bites.
"Are ya even a zombie, boy?" he asked.
It looked at him, still munching his food, again making groaning noises. This time, when the kid moved towards the other, Tallahassee carefully took another Snowball and held it up to the other. The zombie cocked his head from this gesture and slowly was about to take it. "Come on…ain't gonna hurt ya… yet." He murmured, leaning forward to reach the other's hand. There were more moaning and groaning noises in the shop which were not coming from the one in front of him.
"Shit…" the redneck cursed, pulling his hand away. The zombie looked at him strangely. It then stood up and stumbled away. After few minutes of silence, the man sighed, "Well, on my own agai-"He stopped when he saw the same zombie stagger back to him, besides the Snowballs also large knives in his arms. His first thought was 'damn, a zombie want to kill me with knifes because it didn't get his sweets'. He chuckled at the stupid image.
As if.
The zombie stood one meter away from Tallahassee, crouching and holding those knifes to him while looking at the Snowball still in the man's hand. "Ya wanna trade?" he asked amused. A chocking was his answer and the new weapons lied beside him. "Well, here ya go," Tallahassee mused, giving the zombie the fluffy sweet. "Ya know, I'll give ya an advantage of ten minutes, ya hear me?" He spoke quietly, the zombie looking at him with the same curiosity than before. "I let ya be, jus' because ya spare my life too, understand?" The zombie munched on his new traded Snowball, not seeming to notice the other beside him anymore. "Now piss off before I change my mind!" he hissed and shoved the zombie harshly away. It made hurt noises before looking at him again. It took another bite when the moans grew louder. It looked away to where they came from than back to Tallahassee. To the man's horror, the zombie made a loud moaning and gurgling noise. 'Stupid thing!' he thought angrily, feeling betrayed. The zombie nodded at him and stumbled away, still nodding.
Quickly, Tallahassee took his new traded weapons, kept quiet and alarmed. But the groans and moans and deadly noises cleared away. He waited for more thirty minutes when a sudden crash from the door was heard. "Tallahassee?" a female voice shouted into the shop. He sighed in relieve. "I'm here!" He answered, hearing feet stomping towards him. "Are you freaking crazy?!" Wichita snapped at him angrily. Little Rock ran towards him and hugged him tightly. "You stupid idiot…" she whispered. "Don't you dare ran off like that! You could be dead by now! Even you!" Wichita yelled at the man. To both the girls' surprise, the redneck just nodded and apologized. "Ya right, girl. Care to help me up?"
The older girl huffed and helped him up and all three made their way to their SUV. Tallahassee could be lucky that their previous destination was a hospital. His leg got treated and then they drove off. "Look at that! Want to shoot some dead people?" Little Rock cheered, readying her guns. "Forget it! Tallahassee will take a time-out!" Wichita snapped, ignoring the old man's whining. Little Rock smiled innocently, pointing her guns out her open window and shooting at the group of zombies. They laughed in glee by the falling infected. "Wait, not that one!" Tallahassee shouted suddenly, making the younger girl miss her target. Instead she hit a zombie beside the yellow sweater wearing one. But still both fall to the ground. "NO!" the man yelled. It was quiet in the car as they pass the group. Little Rock watched Tallahassee's look glued to the remaining group.
"Stop the car."
"What?" Wichita asked confused.
"Just stop the car!" he snapped back.
She stopped the car. When the zombies where nearing them, the man could see the one with curly hair and yellow sweeter, munching on white fluffy sweets. He sighed and smiled lightly. "Ok, drive."
Hiding place:
"What was that all about?" Little Rock asked, while eating some canned food. They found an old farm to spend the night in and because of Tallahassee's injury, also a few days. At least it seems save enough to rest there (no zombies, many useful gadgets as weapons and actually much food).
"What was what all about?" the only man asked back.
"You of all people would never spare a zombie's life-uh…undead life. Why?"
Tallahassee didn't answer right away, just cleaning his gun. Wichita came with the food and looked at them. "Something's up?"
"Tallahassee doesn't want to tell me why I shouldn't shoot that one zombie. I want to know." Little Rock explained.
"You know, that was quite interesting. What happened back there?"
"Nothing. Just that I want to shoot that one. Next time I will-"
"Nice try, idiot," Wichita interrupted. "You already acted weird when we found you in that shop. And then YOU of all people let a zombie walking around? What for?"
Tallahassee huffed defeated. "I let that one walking around because it did the same for me. Now ya know the truth. Happy?"
Both girls were looking at him shocked. "What a sec. That zombie didn't attack you?" Little Rock asked, irritated.
"No, it just wanted those," with that, he hold up the remaining Snowballs from Little Rocks bag. "It even gave me few knives to get more of them."
By then the sisters couldn't stop it and laughed.
"What!? It's true! If I didn't know it better, I would even say that this zombie called its human-flesh-chumping-friends away from me!" Tallahassee growled angrily.
"Sorry, but I only hear 'A zombie spared my ass, the most dangerous zombie killer alive'!" Wichita laughed, making the man growling louder.
"I think it sounds funny!" Little Rock laughed, "a zombie eating sweets…how is that possible?"
"I don' know. But it was really a scared little shit…" Tallahassee then chuckled.
"Ok, now that this is dealt with, here." The older sister spoke, giving them their bowls.
Fight and invitation:
"Why can't we move on!?" Tallahassee shouted angrily. "We're here for about five days!"
"Well, how about you ask your damn leg?! We can't just travel on with you injured!" Wichita snapped back.
"Hey, I'm still capabl-"
"Ok, if you think you can handle it, then come on! Drive the car!"
Damn. Tallahassee huffed annoyed.
"Thought so. Now do your watch, I'm tired."
Two hours later…
Tallahassee was bored. The girls were sleeping while he cleaned his weapons…again…
Moans, groans and other disgusting sounds could be heard. "Damn…" he whispered, making it over to a window. Like expected, a large group of bloody dead people were passing by. "And I have to be fucking invalid!" he whined. He could right then and there kill them all! And now that! The group stopped. They moaned and gurgled before two zombies moved towards the house. Shit!
And before he could warn the girls, the intruders were there. With two clean headshots, they both fell down. He looked out the window…yup, now he had all their attention.
"What was that?" Little Rock asked, walking downstairs with her gun ready in hands. She saw the corpses on the floor, giving him a look. "Hey, don't give that look. I did nothin' wrong!" He spoke. She just nodded sarcastically and moved to the door to shoot another three dead. "Tallahassee you asshole!" Could be heard upstairs. Now Wichita is also awake. He pointed his gun out the window and shot them down. After few minutes, the remaining zombies were stumbling away. And before Tallahassee knew what happened, he saw the yellow sweater getting shot down. Somehow, it hurt to saw this one falling. It was quiet for a while beside the footsteps from Wichita. Ok, let's get these out of here, they're reeking disgusting."
Which meant that he throws them out because 'he had lure them to their hiding place' from the girls' view. "And suddenly I'm healthy enough to clean the mess up, right." He huffed. When he finished the cleanup in the front yard, the redneck heard another moan. He stumbled carefully towards the sound, finding no other than his previous life savior. "Ya again…" he muttered, watching the other whimper. It received only a graze on its arm clumsily stood up. "Look at ya, is playing dead your favorite game?" He chuckled as the dead kid hummed in recognition at him. "Yup, it's me. And you had your ten minutes." Tallahassee held up his gun to the boy's face. The other squeaked in surprise and immediately crouched into a little ball.
"What takes you so long?" Wichita asked from the house. Tallahassee watched the body in front of him a bit longer, then pulling his gun away. "Nothin'… coming..." He stumbled back to the girls. "I think it could be raining…I already put some buckets out." Wichita explained, walking back inside.
And she was right. It was raining heavily. The survivors were sitting around the fire, silently eating their food. They froze as the sound of a crashed bucket was heard. "Another one?" Little Rock whispered. "I think I know already…" Tallahassee said, moving to the front yard where the buckets stood. "I knew it."
Like expected, to buckets lied there and by the third one the yellow sweater wearing zombie was sitting and drinking from it hastily. "And? What is …oh no!" Wichita shouted, already about to kill it if it wasn't for the man holding her back. Little Rock came to them, watching the creature drink rain water. "Is that even a zombie?" She looked up to Tallahassee, "Is that the one you told about?"
The man nodded, "we should let 'im in."
"What!? Are you insane!?" the older girl hissed at him. "The last thing we need is a new mutated zombie in our place!" She gasped as she was looked at from the zombie. "You take care of the buckets, I take it in," Tallahassee simply said, heading back to the fire, rummage in Little Rock's bag and the walking out to the other.
"Hey, remember me?"
The kid looked up to him. It hummed at him. He held up the Snowball and smiled as the other's eyes were shining. It was about to take the package when Tallahassee slightly drew away. "Wanna eat it?"
There was no response, only the stare. He grew impatient, the rain is cold damn!
Slowly, the kid reached for the sweet again. And again, Tallahassee drew it away slightly. The zombie stood up and the both stumbled back to the house. The girls walked to the buckets, avoiding the staggering zombie within two meters. "That zombie is strange…" Little Rock said as she put the buckets back into their position. "Like I said, surely a new mutation or something like that. I wonder what that idiot wants to do with it."
"I don't know. Maybe we can train it like a dog?" Both chuckled.
New mutated zombie? :
"I can't believe it that you're wasting our medics for a fucking zombie" Wichita said, glaring at the man who cleaned the wound on the other's arm. "Well, you're right. But a normal zombie wouldn't bleed red blood."
He held up the injured arm, the bloody wound clearly red. "Like I said, mutated."
"There's only one way to find it out." Tallahassee stood up, pulling the boy with him. "You two get the water buckets; our friend here will get a bath today."
The first part of the plan went smoothly; Little Rock and Wichita poured the water into the old bath tub while Tallahassee undressed the newcomer. At least he tried to. The boy shouted and screamed while punching around to escape the other's grip. "Stop it! Be a man and take yar fucking bath!" the man shouted angrily.
"We're ready!" The younger girl shouted from the bathroom.
"Ok! Then help me here!"
"Eww…no, it was your plan anyway." Wichita replied simply. He looked over to the younger girl who was blushing. "Ok, just get me some soap! I'll do the rest…"
Finally, the boy was in the tub. Beside the soap, Little Rock also brought shampoo and even an unused toothbrush with toothpaste. By the look Tallahassee was giving her, she simply shrugged.
While Tallahassee was washing the kid, the boy was brushing his teeth. They were surprised that he was able to do that. "Oh…looks like ya got some bad blow on your head…" he muttered, gently touching the right side of the head as he washed the dry blood away. That caused the other to hiss in pain. "Sorry, sorry…I'll be careful."
New survivor! :
The girls were sitting in the living room around the fire when Tallahassee entered the room, followed by the now very clean boy in too large shirts and jeans, obviously from the man's spare clothes. The old bloody and ripped clothes were thrown away. "Let me introduce you Snowball, healthy unbitten human." He spoke up, a hand gesturing to the boy. The boy growled annoyed.
"Seems like it doesn't like the name," Wichita chuckled. "When Snowball is now a human-" Little Rock was interrupted from another groan, "then I think that we should refer to it as he, right?"
"Right" Tallahassee agreed, turning to the boy. "Welcome to yar new survival group, Snowball-"
Now the boy hissed at him, giving him a clear glare. "Ok, no Snowball…"
"Why Snowball anyway?" the younger girl asked. "He likes them." The other answered holding another to the boy who quickly took it and literally swallowed it. "Now to think of it, how long was he around with those fucked up people?" Wichita questioned, all looking at the new comer. To see a zombie all skinny and pale is one thing but a normal person shouldn't look like this. The large outfit was hanging down like he has no flesh at all on himself.
Suddenly, the boy walked towards Little Rock, his hand reaching out. Because of his lack of language and stumbling, it was easily forgotten that he actually was an uninfected human who caused Wichita and Little Rock to point their guns at him, ready to shoot. The boy immediately stopped, just looking at them and giving them a moan while looking back at Little Rock. More importantly, her hands, which had just moments before a paper bag of old chips. He then moved slowly back to Tallahassee and started to chew on his shirt collar. Something he seems used to.
"Okay…let's just put our guns away because this little spitfuck here," he received a weak glare from the boy," is still one of us." Tallahassee took the chips and gave it to the other. The boy took it this time carefully before eating it as quiet as possible. He hummed at the group. They gave him an irritated look but he just continued humming. Little Rock then replied with her own humming and chuckled as the boy slowly stumbled over to sit beside her. While she sat on an old dusty couch, he just sat on the floor, nearer to the firer. "Damn. That is pretty cool!" She chuckled and ruffled the curly hair. "We now have our own zombie-"
"Pseudo-zombie," Tallahassee corrected.
"Whatever…"
Relearning and Names:
While Wichita planned their route, Tallahassee and Little Rock had little fun with their new friend.
In these two days they realized that the new survivor had been living with less to no food or water while walking with the zombies. Quite logical, those dead cannibals only ate fresh humans and had no limit in energy. The boy only could have been able to eat for the next few days and also walking without a break? That could explain his chewing on his clothes when hungry and looking at Tallahassee to be allowed to eat. Seeing him taking a nap was heart breaking. He stood behind a door, hidden from the others and leaned against the wall to only doze for a while. Tallahassee quickly taught him otherwise. Pinning him down on the couch, tied in covers, the boy quickly fell asleep. Also the language-his language- was something to get used to. Ok, two hours of his 'speaking' already made Wichita screaming. "You're a human, you asshole! Learn our fucking language! Your noises are freaking me out!"
The new survivor disappeared for the next two hours. Two hours, without knowledge if he will ever come back. They sighed in relieve when Little Rock found him sitting at door, too afraid to walk in. He again was covered in blood and dirt again and he even glanced at the other man guiltily when he scolded him for running away.
"Say: I'm hungreeee…" Little Rock spoke slowly. The boy looked at her and moaned. Tallahassee chuckled as the little girl frowned, "Ok, let me try. Hungreeeeey…."
Another moan.
Both sighed. "I think it's better like this. If there are other people like us out there, they would kill him if he would be running around saying 'hungry'," Little Rock explained.
"Ok," Tallahassee replied, "Say: Heeeellooooo…Hello." He looked at his little friend, shaking her hand, "Hello."
Little Rock understood what the redneck wanted and also shook his hand, "Hello."
They looked back at the new comer. He was chewing on one of the strings from Tallahassee's spare sweaters. But instead of his 'I'm hungry' look, his eyes showed something like humor. He smiled just lightly and held up his hand and took the other man's. Little Rock and Tallahassee had wide grins on their lips when the boy shook the hand. He looked at the other man and nodded. Tallahassee started again, "Hello." And the boy replied, "Hhhhlooo…"
"Almost!" Little Rock cheered.
Wichita entered the room, maps in her hands, "Okay, guys, how about Columbus in Ohio as next destination? I know it's a long way but-"
"Columbus!"
The group went silent. The boy pointed at himself," Columbus!"
"So…you are from…Ohio?" Tallahassee asked.
The boy nodded quickly, pointing at himself, "Columbus! Columbus!"
The others began to laugh. Finally there was something to work with. They knew where the boy was from; the boy is able to say one word clear AND they finally had a name for him.
"Now we call you Columbus!" Little Rock announced, taking Columbus's hand, "Hello, Columbus."
"Hhhhllloooo…."
Crush:
"What do you want in Columbus?" Tallahassee asked, pulling a water bottle from an eager Columbus away. Said boy just accept it and was munching on some old cookies and glanced out the window. If it wasn't for his condition, they would have made remarks of him eating nonstop.
Wichita was driving the car with Little Rock beside her. "I always wanted to see the Columbus theatre, you know? Feeling like a real actor and stuff. But now I think it would help our friend here. Maybe remembering what happened to him? How he ended up living with zombies?"
"Hello, my name is Columbus…" Columbus said, smiling at the man. He sighed, lightly annoyed and forced a smile back, "My name is Tallahassee, hello." That kid is saying that sentence once an hour. Even if that's getting annoying, it was better for him to talk like them than speak like a zombie. At least there is one funny thing in his relearning. Tallahassee and Little Rock are quite battling like some married couple with first child.
"Hey Columbus, can you say 'Little Rock'?" the girl asked, looking back at the pseudo zombie. He just looked at her curiously. "No no, say 'Tallahassee'. You hear? 'Tallahassee'…"
"You both shut up." Wichita sighed.
Columbus made a happy choking noise (they somehow manage to understand few moans of his) and gave Tallahassee a cookie. "Uh…thank you."
"…you…'re…welc…welcome…" he chocked his reply with difficulties. Tallahassee smiled and ruffled proudly the curly hair. The boy blushed and looked away shyly, nibbling his own cookie. Little Rock looked at them and smirked. "Look at that, Wichita. Our friend Columbus here has a crush…"
His reaction was, in her view, really adorable. Columbus blushed deeply, shoved Tallahassee away weakly and looked out the window, avoiding eye contact with the others. "Stop making fun of him, kid."
"Oh? Tallahassee is returning the crush?" Wichita smirked.
"Ya're unbelievable…" the man huffed, turning to the boy and pulling his shoulder lightly to be able to be face to face, "don' listen to them, ok-"
He got slapped in the face. Tallahassee looked at Columbus surprised and caught off guard. He would have had snapped at the boy if he wasn't sniffing and making whining noises, fright in his eyes. "What was that for?" he asked calmly. The boy just crouched into a ball and was crying silently, hiding his face behind his knees.
"Now ya did it, Little Rock!" He glared at the younger sister, who was watching them worried. "I'm sorry…I didn't expect him to act like that…"
"No ya didn't."