AN: Spoilers for S01E16 (The Old Mill), as well as major spoilers for S02E29 (Athena). Takes place during 'Athena'.
You know how people blather on about how they liked vampires before they were sparkly, or whatever? Lol, I'm one of those people. You have to admit though, ZR had an amazing Kickstarter campaign. Anyway, I'd stopped listening way back when season 2 was only half-released, so I recently redownloaded the app and finally got past 'Galvanize', which is where I'd dropped off originally. And then I heard Athena, and *SPOILERS* zombie!Lem showed up and saved my bacon! And all I could think was, what? So I ran the mission again. And then I had to wonder; what is it that made zombie!Lem different from any other zombie people? So this little drabble came into existence. Barely 1K, but it had to be written. Hopefully I can get more ZR drabbles out too! I love the supporting characters~
Lem, was a gentleman. He'd been one before the apocalypse, and he'd striven to be the same afterwards. It was a way of living, and for a while, it was his coping mechanism. If he focused his entire being into being the poster-boy for post-apocalypse manners, then he wouldn't have to think too hard about what had happened. He could pretend it was normal. All the shambling bodies were just rude people with no manners to their names.
And being a gentleman in the post-apocalypse was a good thing too. If he'd been as focused on personal survival as some others he'd come across previously, he'd never have met Nadia. Sweet, funny Nadia. He'd been worried, after he'd rescued her, that her affections were only worship to someone she owed her life to. Honestly though, he was glad when they'd actually managed to hook up. It was nice, having someone else to really care about and focus on.
It also made dying hurt even more, because he knew he was leaving Nadia behind. At least she was safe behind New Canton's walls though. Unlike the young runner who'd tried to save him. He could still remember her look of shock as he ran from her, shouting every obscenity he could think up to draw the zombies after himself. He was a gentleman afterall, and he'd already been going grey; best to do something with his final minutes. He'd asked the girl to remember him, but he doubted she would. More important things to focus on in the post-zombie-apocalypse afterall than some dead guy from another township.
He was honestly surprised when he saw her again, several months later. Not that he could explain why he was surprised though. She was a runner afterall; of course she'd be out and about. Although the alleyway she was currently fleeing down was a rather narrow place. As a former runner himself, Lem wondered why she'd gone into such a dangerous area. There was no space to manoeuvre around, and if another swarm came upon the other end before the runner was out, you were boxed in. Oh, but there behind her was a rather large swarm. She must have been driven into a corner, and the alleyway was her only escape. Lem stood in the shattered frame of a doorway, watching the young woman sprint through the alley. Slowly, he began to frown. She seemed to be running rather slowly. And those young men chasing after her were surprisingly speedy.
Lem had seen the enhanced zombies before. He usually preferred to avoid areas where they congregated though. He didn't know if any of his fellows had noticed, but where there were fast zombies, there were heavily armed people. And even if his stomach drove him after pretty much anything that moved nowadays, Lem was still a survivor. Well, not counting the time he died. So he stayed away from the settlements, and tried to keep inside the city. It was actually kind of fun. Runners rarely came that way, so it was surprisingly easy to ignore his hunger. Sometimes he'd try racing other zoms, just for fun. But usually they'd get distracted, or something interesting would catch his own eye. He'd even gotten up four stairs once, but he'd stumbled on the fifth step and gone tumbling down. It'd taken a while to get used to the crooked view from his broken neck after that.
Either way, the young runner was getting quite close to Lem's doorway, and the other zoms were close on her heels. Lem's vision had started to go bad recently, but he could still see desperation and exhaustion on the young woman's face. She was pretty far from Abel too; he hadn't thought they'd send their runners out so far away. And the zoms were keeping pace with her. They were probably going to catch her. Lem thought about that for a minute before making his decision. He stepped out of the doorway and shambled towards her as quickly as he could. He watched as her step faltered briefly, and a second later her eyes widened as she stared at his face. She remembered him? Oddly, that thought made Lem rather happy. He'd expected her to simply forget, or perhaps remember him in abstract. That New Canton runner that got bitten. But she recognized him. Hang on, was that guilt? Why was she looking at him so guiltily? Surely she didn't blame herself for his dying? He'd been bitten before she'd even gotten to the mill he'd hidden in, afterall.
Either way, he was several feet in front of her now, and he watched as she closed her eyes, grimacing as she ran right past him. Lem grinned as he stuck one of his twisted legs out, tangling it in another zombie's legs and bringing the rude young dead man down. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the young runner slow and turn, shock written across her face. One of her hands reached up to press against her headset.
"No, you're not seeing things Sam." She muttered, slowly walking backwards. She should be careful, Lem frowned. She could trip walking like that. "No, you saw right; it is Lem." Oh, she even remembered his name; that really was surprising. "Lem just saved me. Again. …Yeah, I'm on it." Her hand went back to her side and she turned away, shifting back into a running stance. But before she took off, she twisted around one more time, meeting Lem's clouded eyes.
"Thanks Lem." She said, almost too softly for the zombie to hear. Inside, Lem smiled as he watched the young woman sprint away with newfound speed. Absently, he stuck an arm out, tripping one of his fellow undead who had managed to shuffle around the tangled mess of limbs. He was, afterall, a gentleman.