So I wasn't sure how to introduce the new cast of characters and infected. I received a few suggestions from readers in between Ever Evolving and this so I do have some material along with some of my own. There's also the fact that years have passed by so if you can get 5 specials after the first couple weeks of the outbreak, what would we have after 5 years? I have plans to go to extremes, far from the normal human anatomy from extensive mutation. These guys can already get big as a house, small as a dog, spit acid, explode... I really to want to put in some insane infected but as always I will gladly accept infected ideas from any reader, within reason of course. I mean goes nuts and all but I just don't want a zombie T-rex with eight legs and tweety bird wings... Let's get to it then, this chapter's infected was sent in by Ghost2291, let's give him a round of applause. Read, Review, Enjoy!

Bio: Trapper

This grotesque infected comes in many shapes and sizes from male to female, civilian to military, young to old. The single common theme is the large slit down the center of the body where the decaying organs and partially coagulated blood spill from. This slit is not a wound but rather a secondary mouth. The trapper is quite slow but durable and can consume its own weight each day though it is a mystery as to where the nourishment goes with the stomach hanging out from the abdomen. When this infected has found prey it will open the slit and use appendages formed from the in tact flesh remaining to reach out. Once it has its prey inside the slit, the ribs are used to stab and tear the victim to make it easy to consume. There are two variations of trappers. Firstly is the mobile trapper which will of course give chase. The other is the camper version that is so decayed it has lost the ability to move. As a result it looks similar to just another mangled dead body that lines the streets. When prey draws near it will reach just the same as if it were a mobile trapper. If it fails it will be quite easy to kill or just avoid.

The streets covered in blood, decaying buildings, dead lining the sidewalks, not a thing has changed in five years. I'm unsure of what I was expecting to see but whatever it was, I was wrong. All the time spent locked up I had hoped this world would be slowly healing and correcting itself but it's in just as much disrepair as ever. Now I was in the heart of the ruined city.

Enid told me my targeted horde was in this direction but I couldn't see a thing, it was already turning dark and was becoming hard to see through this helmet. Was it possible the reports were wrong? No, there's no chance they would make a mistake concerning an entire horde and these flesh eaters. Could it be they changed direction. Either way I was hoping to celebrate my day out with some blood shed, and with this damn silence I was seriously beginning to get agitated. I was cooped up too long and I wanted to have a fight.

"Where the fuck are you guys?!"

"Right here!"

I wasn't expecting an answer for my yelled question but as soon as I felt someone's foot land on the back of my head, that didn't matter. I staggered forward as my attacker jumped over in front of me, using my head as a spring board. All I could tell about this person was it was female from the voice and that because she understood my question, she was an infected. As for what I could see, the dark surrounding us only allowed me to make out her two long pony tails and somewhat short demeanor.

"Hey there soldier boy! Get separated from your group? Sucks to be you to face me of all infected."

She actually thought I was one of those damn soldiers. Technically I was at one time but now I just felt insulted.

"You are arrogant as shit, aren't you kid?"

"So you understand me? Oh I get it, you got infected then your friends abandoned you!"

"Shut up and come at me, I'm getting bored."

"With pleasure!"

I stood my ground as she made the first move, a swift forward jump that somehow sent her 20 feet from her position to mine. With all her momentum she spun her body around and shot her calf to the side of my head. She managed to catch me off guard as I flew from one sidewalk to another. I just lied there and thought to myself what this infected could be and how long it'd take to kill her, even what kind of handicap to use to make this last longer. All the while she started to mock me.

"Holy shit! I know you aren't a common infected since you can speak so why the hell are you on the ground already?! Damn... such a let down, whatever..."

"This should be fun after all."

"Huh?"

I felt no pain from the impact, just shocked from her movements. I pulled myself to my feet and brushed off my shoulders.

"Tell you what kid, I'll kick your ass with one hand. Hows that sound?"

After finishing my words, I put my right arm with my claws behind my back and awaited her reply.

"Well?"

"You asshole! And you called my arrogant?!"

"If I use my right arm then you'd die too soon."

"Fuck you!"

Again she repeated her attack just the same as before, this time I brought my hand up and caught her leg. The scared whimper that escaped her was priceless. With a quick jerk I smashed her into the concrete and slung her across the road. As she smashed through a window, I chased her through.

The smell of rot was the first thing to hit me, carcasses littered the floor. The bodies were mangled and torn the shreds with the bones shattered and scattered around. I was distracted as I inspected the bodies to learn what had done it and the thing that did it took advantage of the distraction.

From the dark came anotherinfected infected that looked like it'd already been disemboweled. It was a sicken sight, so I took my claw from behind my back and drove it deep into the infected. My claw slid in too easily and it seemed to be stuck. I asked for fight and now I was getting them left and right. Couldn't be much happier.

"Hey, mind letting me have my hand back?!"

"Course I mind! It's mine now."

The infected's chest started moving and squirming along a thin line going from its neck to it's abdomen. The feeling inside was disturbing, I felt something trying to pull my arm clean off.

"You chose a bad lunch dumbass. I don't play well with someone else's stomach..."

With my free hand I gripped his throat, and with my claw inside him I ripped him in half at the stomach where my hand rested, it was like pulling apart rotting fruit. I pulled slop from slop and freed my hand. Was this thing really the cause for the many dead surrounding us? It was so weak and fragile. I wasn't sure but it didn't matter now.

With my claw free I dropped the squirming top half to the floor and flashed my right hand to him. Through his bloody gurgles I heard a faint scream of pain and terror. It was a pitiful sight watching it try to crawl away, leaving pieces of him to fall out behind him. This violence, this is what I missed most while trapped in that damned base.

"Where are you going maggot?! I'm not done until you're dead!"

I planted my foot over his spine that dangled from his back and watched as he scratched the flooring trying to crawl away. As I raised my other foot into the air above it, it flipped over to see what I was doing. Last thing it saw was my foot coming down on its head. Not the most pleasant way to go out. Sure he would've prefered to not see it coming.

With that annoyance dead it was time to find that infected from before. Lucky for me she came to me. As I stepped off from the thing under me, I felt a sharp pain shoot through my neck as her teeth entered me and she wrapped her arms around me. It felt so familiar to me. As I felt fluid rush into my veins, I knew what this was, I knew what the infected was, I knew who it was.

"This trick won't work on me again, Stephanie."

That was all I needed to say to make the teeth leave my neck while a grin spread across my face. Though her teeth left me, her arms did not. They became tighter around me and I started to hear sobbing.

"I thought you were stronger than that Stephanie. Don't start crying, jeez."

She didn't let go of me to talk, she stayed behind me and lied her head against mine.

"Cole... How are you here?"

"I got out early for good behavior."

"Shut up!"

I flinched and tried to turn my head to face her, still couldn't see her face.

"Cole, I thought you were dead... When I got to the base, I saw them dragging your body inside the gate..."

"They didn't want to kill me, I'm their new toy. They sent me here to kill a horde of infected and in exchange I get to see my daughter."

The reunion was interrupted suddenly when I heard a screech in my helmet. It was debilitating and dropped me to my knees grasping my head. When that was done I heard the intercom.

"Cole! Did you forget I had a camera put in that helmet?! I send you to kill infected and you decide on a conjugal?! Kill that thing then get back to work!"

The colonel, no matter how far away I am, he will always try to control me. I shifted my attention to Stephanie and placed my hands on her shoulders.

"Cole! Whats the matter?!"

"Get out of here!"

"But-"

"Shut the hell up and run!"

Stephanie knew better then to argue with me, so she turned and fled. Before she got out of my sight though, the screeching came back and forced a shout from me.

"I told you to kill it! If you won't kill even a single infected when ordered then what point is there to keeping you alive?!"

Before I could get up and start moving again, I felt a small impact on the top of the helmet. When I looked up, I saw Stephanie trying to rip it from my head.

"I'm sorry I'm not running Cole! But I'll get that thing off of you!"

The banging was only adding to the pain, I didn't even think it was going to help. It didn't at all help when the restraints kicked in all balled me up. The banging and scratching continued on my head, I could feel my head ripping apart from the screeching. I slowly started fading out.

Was a loud noise really the thing that would kill me? That's what I was beginning to think at the time, up to the point I heard something pop on the back of my head. The noise stopped and Stephanie ceased her banging like a caveman. It was all replaced by the sound of sparks and things breaking. The restraints loosened and
I stood up to examine what exactly had happened.

Stephanie was jumping around praising herself like a child for helping like that. She was hitting me on the top of my helmet though, not the back... Fucking idiot... Still, what broke?

"Cole..."

I was not in the mood for another PSA from that damn colonel.

"This is Enid, I made this recording into the helmet for the day you would finally be free."

Enid, when she hit my on the back of the my head she must've switched this thing on. I jumped through the window so Stephanie wouldn't hear what was going on.

"The fuck is going on?"

"I sabotaged the helmet so it would malfunction some time after leaving. In exchange for doing this I'd like you to do one thing for me. I'm making this sometime before you are being sent out and I'm not sure what reason it is that you were sent out for but I'm sure it will be an emergency, no other reason Richard would set you loose. If this mission you've been sent on is for the safety of the base, please complete it."

Even after being freed I still can't be left alone.

"I'm sorry to ask this but if it's too much for the soldiers then you are the only one who can protect me and Alice."

After hearing that, my attitude did a 180.

"Alice... No way in hell am I letting infected lay a finger on her"

I stepped back in through the window where Stephanie was observing the remains of both the humans and the infected.

"Shit Cole, how the hell did you do that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Trappers are serious trouble and you just tore it apart!"

"Was it really so strong?"

"Damn straight!"

Stephanie seemed as easily impressed as always, the trapper as she called it was easy to kill.

"...Stephanie."

She responded by wrapping her arms around me again.

"Now you and me can get out of this shit hole!"

"No. I have to complete the mission I was given."

"What?! Screw that! Why would you do that?!"

"If I don't then infected will overrun the base and take Alice!"

Stephanie was taken aback by my words and looked to the ground with her hands now covering her mouth.

"I'm coming with you Cole!"

"Stephanie..."

"Cole, that thing in there was a trapper and trust me, that was a weak one! You'll need my help!"

"Hey-"

"No Cole! Alot has changed and you don't know anything about all the new infected out here!"

"Stephanie-"

"I'm not done yet, I was a good fighter five years ago and all but now I'm even a match for you! You want my help! You need my help!"

"Stephanie, shut up for two seconds. I'd be glad to have you along."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, but just so you know I was holding back against you."

Stephanie hadn't changed much in all these years. Despite looking around 24 she was still so childish and clingy, even so it was good to see my old friend again. As we searched for the horde she kept going on about things that had happened to her in my absence. Joined a horde for some time, lived in an abandoned penthouse, even took down a tank thanks to her venom.

Then came the more important facts she had discovered while on her own. First was the condition all infected were in. With most remaining humans tucked away somewhere safe, there was little food left. The only way to eat was to come together and make hordes to raid hideouts or bases just like the one my daughter lived in. Luckily it hardly ever goes well and their hunger gets the best of them, they eat eachother in a frenzy before they can even reach their target. I could only hope that's already happened to the horde we were tracking. As for any infected who wasn't joining a horde, they were eating the commons. Seems the infected were finally dragged to the humans' sad state, fighting just to survive, eating anything you can find even if it'll kill you later.

Next thing Stephanie started telling me about was the mutations. In a matter of weeks, infected of all sorts started to arise. I could only imagine what else has come of this grotesque disease. She told me of special infected that could swim like a fish, fly like a bird, run like a damn wild animal. It wasn't too worrying unless they attacked the base though. Couldn't give a damn otherwise.

"Anything else I need to know?"

"One more thing, unique infected."

"The hell is that, some super race infected?"

"No Cole, we are unique infected."

"Start from the top here, you lost me."

Stephanie stopped in her tracks before taking a deep breathe, followed by a very long winded explanation on unique infected.

"... Well you see, you and I are both unique because you are the only bruja and I'm the only tweaker in the world. Nobody I've met has ever heard of or seen any others. Along with being one of a kind a unique is also immune to mental and physical decay. We don't rot like others nor do we go insane from our brain cells dying off-"

"Stop! What did you just say?"

"What part?"

"The mental decay thing."

"Right, thought that'd stand out to you. No doubt Cass is on your mind now."

She was right, Cass went insane and so I was forced to kill her all those years ago.

"...Yeah, she did come to mind..."

"That's because she was a normal special infected, not a unique. The mental decay starts in the commons before they turn to specials but it doesn't start at all for uniques. Also I noticed something about it, I think it's genetic. You and your brother, both unique. My sister was too before... well you know. Something else that's interesting is our bodies still work."

"Our bodies... wait what?"

"We may be dead but everything is working in there."

"You mean like heart and lungs? Sorry but I haven't felt a pulse in my chest since I was a human."

"Well not your heart but your lungs do, don't you ever feel winded? We also need our livers to keep us healthy. More of a drawback sometimes."

"And how do you know this?"

"Well I saw this one... Nevermind, you wouldn't believe me."

"tell me."

"It's a secret!"

"Fine..."

I had no reason to believe her, but I had no reason not to believe her either. In the end it wasn't important because if our bodies functioned or not, what would it change? I'm still an infected and so is she. The humans would still shoot us for what we are and we would rip them apart because of the same exact reason. Still, I was admittedly curious what it is she saw that made her think such things.

"We should keep moving, still need to find that horde."

"You got it big man!"

As we continued our march through the streets, my mind raced to figure out what it was Stephanie could've seen. Did she see something inside an infected? Maybe she killed one and made a discovery then. The subject was bugging me the entire time. I hardly even noticed as Stephanie dragged me into a towering building so we could get a better view. Regardless, it did help us in the end when we saw corpses of different infected litter the streets in front of us. We looked down through the window to watch the last two infected, another trapper and a boxer, start fighting. Stephanie was right, these new hordes don't last after all.

"Wanna get 'em Cole?"

"Let them kill eachother, whichever one survives isn't a threat to the base."

"Damn, I was hoping you would put on a show for little me."

"You want a show? Watch those maggots rip into eachother."

Stephanie let out a humph and a sigh before letting it go and watching the two infected fight. It wasn't much of a show for her though. Soon as the boxer knocked the trapper in the air it spun around and landed on the boxer's head. From my prior experience that day I knew that was one of the places you didn't want to stick your head in. We watched as it ran around in a panic trying to get it off of him off. It became incredibly stupid in a moment as the boxer rammed a wall. The trapper was indeed killed but the impact also crushed the boxer's head.

"Well that was boring."

"Well whatever. So Cole, now that you don't have anything else to do... wanna come with me?"

"It's that or go back to the colonel, fuck that. Looks like I'm sticking with you then."

Ending felt lacking here but I swear I have a reason for that so don't bite my head off for it. Anyway, I still would like some infected if anyone is willing to share. Don't worry, you will be accredited, or not if you don't want to. If nobody is going to then I will simply use one of my own creation.