-Sh-SHIT!-

Not wanting to get his head torn off just yet, he brandished his gun and fired down upon the three-headed monster.

One shot grazed the shoulder.

Another shot skinned the left head, leaving a streak that exposed the blood-stained skull beneath.

Before he could fire again, the dog leapt for it's prey. –Damn he's fast!-

Survival instincts finally kicked into full gear once again and Liv threw himself to the ground as the dog's mass collided with the small dinner table and smashed it to bits. –JESUS!- Quickly, he scrambled back to his feet, looping his other arm into the strap of his backpack and raced for the wide open door. Seeing an undead for wobbling at the doorframe, he skidded to a halt at the realization there was not only one, but several clogging up the hallway. –Why is it that these fuckers only come out when I'm in trouble?-

Hearing the rustle of wooden debris and snarling, he looked back to find Rebel upon all fours ready to strike again. It did something odd though. The barbed tongue that snagged up the carpet retracted into the center head's maw. It lurched, then leaned back and shot something toward Liv's head. With the good cat-like reflexes he had, Liv veered away from the pink blur only to realize what it was as it shot past him just inches from his face.

For Liv, the world seemed to slow to a crawling pace. He could see the intricate muscles of the tongue, pulsing and tensing as it began to stretch to an incredible length. The barbs were thick, sharp, and glistened wetly in what dim light had filtered into the room. He let his gaze travel along the elastic pink muscle and looked to where it had wrapped around the rotten neck of the zombie who stood in the way. For a moment, Liv could've sworn the zombie displayed the look of surprise as if it never expected this coming. Suddenly, everything seemed to return to it's horrific, quickened pace as the tongue tensed and crushed the undead cannibal's neck with ease. It's neck squelched like a crushed tomato and it's head popped clean off to bounce off the carpet and roll into a corner. Coagulated blood oozed out from the stump of the zombie's neck as the tongue quickly unraveled and retreated back into the confines of the center head's maw before relaxing and dropping back onto the carpet.

-So much for that being useless.-

Not wanting to stay trapped between the two, Liv aimed his sights as the former Rebel recovered and put a bullet in between the center head's sunken eyes. Much to his surprise, the bullet did more damage than he thought! The heads screamed in unison and it collapsed onto the floor, writhing in pain and struggling to get up for a round two. –Nows my chance!- Quickly, he made haste for the window and ripped the blinds away. Knowing he only had so little time, he swore loudly when the window refused to budge.

Once again, rage-filled snarls and barks reached his ears and he spun about, plastering himself against the window at the sight of Rebel back on his feet. –Shit…what am I gonna do?..Wait, the window!-

Hands trembled as he pulled himself off of the glass. This plan was stupid, yes—especially after Liv had seen some gruesome tongue action the monster had with another zombie. Hopefully this thing was as dumb as rocks and…

"C'mon, boy!" He felt himself grinning. Grinning! Why! "C'mon you fucker!"

The monster only proved Liv right as it snarled at his taunting and charged with incredible speed thanks to the pulsing muscles rippling beneath it's shredded skin. At the last second, it leaped for the officer who in turn, ducked once again. Rebel shot through the window and clean over the balcony, taking a three-story plunge and howled as it did so. It's howls were soon cut short by a heavy thud that Liv could both hear and feel.

-…Didn't think that would work twice. Guess I'm lucky.-

He ignored the undead that slowly began to barge in uninvited into his home and climbed out the broken remains of the window, careful not to cut himself. Once he peered over the balcony and saw the three headed carcass lay still under it's own pool of blood, he felt a bit of relief and…mournful over the fact that it was dead.

Rebel was dead. –To think I raised him from when he was just a puppy…Never thought I'd ever point my gun at him. Never.- "…At least you get to rest peacefully now, buddy," he shakily sighed and descended down the stairs and into the darkness of the alley.

The original part of his plan (that was mostly made up as he went) was to to get onto Mission Street and head down to the station. From there, his intent was to keep going down the main street, cut through city hall, and reach the Police Department. Once he saw the mass of cars and destruction that blocked his way, he obviously knew that this posed a big problem. Unless…

-…The zoo. I can cut through the zoo without a problem. There shouldn't be anything infected runnin' around there. Even so, everything's locked up. It'll be a breeze.-

Not wanting to stick around any longer, he ran out of the alley as fast as he could.

…..

Once he got to the zoo, his stomach liquefied into his feet. What was once a sturdy, decorative iron fence was now nothing more but a twisted heap as if something had charged and burst through. Bits of skin and rotten meat clung to the jagged bars that ripped away. –The animals escaped from the zoo…Damn.- Did the virus also grant incredible strength to those who were infected?

-Whatever. It's not like I have a choice. The car pile ups on the street'll only slow me down.-

Anyone who knew Liv well enough would know that he loved animals and what better place was there to view animals than the zoo? Even if Liv hardly ever visited the place, the times he went, he enjoyed every bit of it. He often went with Jody a few times when they were together, but the strongest memory he could recall at the moment was the time he went with someone he never expected to go with.

…..

It was a warm summer day. The few clouds in the sky weren't the reason for Liv's dampened spirits. There were other reasons. Reasons he could've avoided…Should've avoided, but failed to do so. Even as he stood before the Elephant habitat and watched the giant mammal flap its giant ears, he couldn't bring himself to truly enjoy the place as he had done so in the past.

"I didn't know you liked animals," he sighed and turned to his company who leaned against the railing.

Jessie Franks shrugged and leaned against the rail. "They're alright."

Liv frowned. "So…Why'd you bring me here? I thought we were gonna get coffee or somethin'?"

Jessie chuckled and took off his ball cap just to scratch at the back of his head. "Honestly, I have no idea. I remembered someone saying that you liked this kind of stuff. Thought it might make you feel better," he grinned and leaned to get a better look of his friend. "…Is it working?"

Liv couldn't deny that it was working. He felt the corner of his lips tugging just a little before he turned away, suddenly growing very interested in the animal that rubbed it's backside against a tree. "..Sort of."

"Yeah…I heard about what happened. So I'm guessing she moved out?"

"Yep."

"Heard you beat the living bag out of that guy too. What exactly did you do to him?"

Liv tore his gaze away from the elephant and looked Jessie straight in the eye. "I shot his foot and then beat the bag out of him."

Jessie's brows rose with slight amusement as if his surprised stare said 'are you shitting me?' to which Liv only retorted with a deadpan stare that pretty much said 'wouldn't you?'

"Jesus, Liv…" Jessie wiped at his face and stole a glance before he watched a smaller elephant pester the big male. "I…don't know what to say," the mechanic sighed and shook his head.

"Just say what you want to say. Don't worry, I won't shoot you for it."

Jessie laughed. "No, It's not that. It's just…Well, I dunno. I've never been in your position before. I don't blame you for going ape-shit…'cuz if it was me in your shoes, I don't know what I would've done. Maybe I would've done the same thing you did…Or maybe something worse. I'm just sorry you had to go through that. I can't imagine me being paranoid over Susan…" Jessie outwardly cringed, "I wouldn't be able to handle it if she ever did that to me."

Silence fell over the two. The male swatted the small elephant with it's thick trunk and snorted in annoyance.

Jessie started again, "what…Do you think happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…like why do you think she did it? There has to be a reason…"

"…I don't know."

"There has to be something. Maybe…Something you did?"

Liv bristled at that and shot Jessie a look, "All I did was take care of her," he frowned and sighed when the mechanic put his hands up in defense, "Sorry."

"It's okay. I didn't mean it like that though."

The small elephant began to pester the male again.

Once again, Jessie broke the uncomfortable silence. "..Do you think it was because she lost the baby?"

Liv inwardly cringed at the thought about their lost child. "Why would losing a child cause you to do something like that?" he muttered, his voice wavering. He recalled just how devastated Jody was when she had her miscarriage. She didn't eat for a couple days straight. She refused to attend school and sat in the darkness of their room every day, sitting with the baby blanket they had bought in anticipation for their child wrapped tightly around her body. The woman even refused to talk to Liv and she had shut down altogether.

After that, things were never the same.

Liv never loved her any less although a tiny bit of him held some sort of resentment against her for losing the baby. Still though, he attended to work every day to support their needs and wants. He grieved as well over the loss of their unborn child, but he refused to simply sit in the dark and wither away. Instead, he kept himself busy as much as possible just to avoid the wretched hands of grieving as if it were a real, fleshy existence. He worked ridiculous hours and co-workers began to question his health. Knowing he was on a short fuse at the time though, no one dared to approach and simply left him to his own devices. The times Jody wanted to talk about the baby, Liv wouldn't hear any of it or change the subject. To him, why dwell upon it? What happened, happened and there was nothing the two of them could do about it.

Jessie stared at Liv now who began to crumble at the thought of the baby. "…I think it's what you didn't do, that made her reach out for someone else."

Liv bit his lip. As much as he hated to hear that, Jessie was…right. Liv was so busy trying to avoid the situation, he never realized that he actually had pushed Jody away as well. He had pushed her towards someone else…But still. What she did…stung.

The Male elephant grunted and walked away from the other, leaving the small one standing beside the tree alone.

"…I hate when you're right."

Jessie sighed. "Me too. Women are like cars. You spoil them…take good care of them…Give them everything they need and they'll go for miles with you," he grabbed out a pack of Malboros from his pocket and frowned. He did say he was going to quit… "But if you don't do what you're supposed to do, then you're stuck with nothing." He shoved the cigarettes back in his pocket and nudged the doom and gloom beside him.A change of subject was in order.

"C'mon. It smells like shit over here and I'm dying for some hot wings and beer."

…..

It felt so strange standing beside the elephant pen. Ironically, he was standing in the very spot that the two had conversed and stared at the tree where he watched the two giant mammals.

-I gave her a reason to be selfish. It was because I was selfish too.-

Feeling the sting of dwelling in the past, he pushed away from the railing and moved on.

The zoo proved to be as safe as he thought. Not a single creature was in sight. The larger animals either died in their cages or had escaped those hours prior, leaving the zoo to be nothing but an abandoned park. It was good for the time being. He passed the Tiger's pen, the Lion den, and continued on until he reached where they kept primates of all shapes and sizes. A sign caught his interest and he leaned in to read.

-Baboons? We…have these? Since when?-

Suddenly, a baboon had smashed itself against the iron bars of it's prison and screamed as it reached out for Liv. Poor Liv found himself screaming and flung himself back to only trip over a trash can and face plant onto the concrete. He found himself in a tangled mess as the Baboon continuously bashed itself against the Iron bars.

-Heh…don't do that again, dumbass. Pay attention!-

Groaning, he finally rolled himself off of the trash can and rose to his feet, glaring at the irate monkey who screamed at him again. As much as he wanted to blow it's stupid-looking face away, he needed to conserve his bullets. Besides, as far as he was concerned, the monkey was harmless so long as it was stuck in there. Only when he calmed himself down and made sure his heart wasn't going to leap from his mouth, did he realize the monkey was missing patches of fur.

-…So any animal can get infected.-

It's hands were covered in blood that smeared upon the bars and Liv knew why. There was nothing but carnage displayed in the monkey's pen. It wasn't human remains that were scattered all over the rocks and floating in the artificial pond.

-…It killed and ate it's own kind.-

Liv sighed, feeling remorse more than irritation and moved on, tuning out the Baboon's carnal screams.

He soon came across the large stretch of green that served as a mass picnic area for families and schools that often came to the zoo for field trips. What was once a cheery, peaceful environment was nothing more than abandoned and…eerie in Liv's eyes. The overcast that plagued the city only served to cast a sense of doom over the area. Then again, this city was doomed enough, thanks.

His gaze swept across the many things scattered across the grass. From trash to dropped food, to even bags, backpacks, and purses, it didn't take rocket science to know that these people left in a mad hurry. He didn't need to question why. What he questioned more than anything, was just how many people here managed to run to safety?

-Probably not a lot considering I've only seen dead people today.-

He continued on, kicking trash and debris to the side as he plunged himself into self loathing and dark thoughts. Jody…James…had they made it to safety? Or how far did they actually get? Were they dead or wandering around just like he was?

Speaking of himself, how long was he going to last? Was he going to make it to the police station at all? Or was he going to get torn up by something worse than Rebel and have the birds pluck out his eyes and have them for lunch?

He groaned to himself until he felt something thwack against his back. Startled, he jumped and spun around. No one was there. "What the hell?..." he grumbled and straightened his jacket only to have something else smack against his shoulder this time and tore a sliver of leather. This time, he whirled around to have a black oily feather flutter in front of his face and watch as the culprit sailed into a tree.

"CAW!"

-…just a crow.-

Crows were nothing but sadistic little bastards. They were too smart for their own good in his opinion. He recalled the last time he ate lunch at the park. One of those bastards swooped down and stole a beak-full of his fries and retreated into the trees. Then another had the audacity to land upon his bench and bite at his fingers. Once the startled Liv dropped his cheeseburger, the damn crow helped himself to bite after bite of the officer's lunch. Well, the coke had been good at least, but that was the last time he decided to eat lunch in the park.

He glared at the tree the crow resided in and waited for it to swoop down once again. Sure enough, a black mass of feathers dropped down for the tree, it's target no other than the human before it. Liv drew his pistol immediately and shot the oncoming bird. It exploded into a mess of blood and feathers and Liv grinned, satisfied over his victory. "Steal my food again, you bastards."

For some reason, he regret killing the bird and he quickly found out why.

"CAW!"

"CAW, CAW!"

His triumph quickly dissolved into nothing as the caws of the crows grew louder and sounded more populated by the minute. The scariest part of the situation was the fact that there was no visible threat in sight. He checked his left, his right…he even whirled around and not a thing was present behind him. It was only when another oily black feather floated down in front of his face did he realize where the threat exactly was. Once he looked up, he discovered several things at once. One, it was very rare to be threatened by something that was in the general up direction. Normally people get attacked head on or flanked from the left or right. Some people even get surprise attacked from behind, but someone being attacked from…above?

-Holy shit!-

High up in the overcast sky was a mass of black crows that incessantly cawed and squawked at his presence. To Liv, they looked like more than just crows. If anything, they looked like a bad omen. After all, some believed that crows were a bad omen for unlucky travelers. Or was it Ravens? Liv could never tell the difference. Anyway, that didn't matter just then. He never saw Crows act so aggressively. The only time he ever did see them attack was when they felt their nest was being threatened. Now, they acted as a collective mass and their bizarre nature only rubbed him the wrong way.

-This is bad…-

Not wanting to see the damage they can do, he made a run for it and the crows bolted after him.

-REALLY BAD!-

"Shit!" Never did he think he would ever be attacked by a crow. Or thousands of them at once. They all clouded up the sky and casted a shadow upon his running form. He knew he couldn't keep this pace up. He'd either tire out and the birds would catch him, or he'd still be running and they would catch him anyway. Either way, it wasn't looking too good for him—especially when one smacked him on the leg.

As he ran, he contemplated on how ridiculous this was. Death by crows sounded like a very stupid way to go. Of all the things he faced; zombies, red-skinned freaks, the blob…even the three headed creature that was once his fucking pet…He could've been torn asunder, chewed on, digested alive and yet, here were these crows that quickly closing in and ready to dig in while he was running low on fumes. His lungs burned, legs cramped, feet throbbed, and lips grew dry as his mouth refused to snap shut as he sucked in as much air as he could. –Stupid…fuckin…birds…!-

Both he and the crows knew that this little game of 'cat and mouse' was going to soon come to an end. The question was; who will win the game? Liv frantically looked about as he made the longest run for his life across the green and suddenly spotted a safe haven he nearly sprinted past; the reptile exhibit. –There!- Luckily for him, the reptile exhibit was designed in a way to give the people the feel as if they were actually walking into a cave. It also linked to the 'creepy crawler' section where the spiders, scorpions, and other critters crawled about in their glass cases. He hated that part of the zoo, but he knew he couldn't be too picky at a time like this. He made his final mad dash for the mouth of the artificial cave and quickly unlatched the heavy door. Gritting his teeth, he pulled it closed and nearly had a heart attack when a crow managed to squeeze it's body halfway into the closing crack. It screamed and squawked, but it's pained cries went unheard as Liv yanked the door closed and cleaved it's body in half with a crunch and a squish. It's upper torso splat wetly onto the ground and twitched. He blanched as the remains of the crow still squirmed and squawked in the dim light that filtered through the cracks of the double doors.

The good news was that he managed to cheat death for the umpteenth time. His record went on for…how long? Hours? A day? He did recall the time he passed out back at the apartments…Christ, did he pass out for that long? Time was lost to the officer and his brow furrowed at the realization of it. –Funny when shit goes downhill…-

Pushing that thought aside, he glanced back at the darkness around him. Not a single light showed him the path to enlightenment and he scowled, thinking that this was a very shit idea indeed. –Well it's either playing with the crows or groping around in the dark.- He brought out the small torch and lit the way, revealing the darkened glass cages and the glittering glare from shattered pieces scattered across the floor. What exactly was this part of the exhibit? He inched his way over towards the largest glass display and noticed the gaping, jagged hole and the blood that coated the sharpened edges. –Something crawled out of here…-

Once he looked towards the plaque, his shoulders slumped in defeat and despair.

" Burmese Python. Python molurus bivittatus"

His forehead bumped against the plaque and he sagged against the wall, eyeing at the smashed glass and the blood that coated it. "Snakes…" he grumbled and slid down the stony wall to hug his legs. "Why'd it have to be snakes?..." he groaned and let himself tip over to lay upon the chilled floor. He shivered, knowing what kind of monstrosity was on the loose. The worst part was the fact that there was a high chance of it being infected just like the rest of the animals he had encountered so far. He wouldn't doubt that was what allowed the Python the strength to burst through the enforced glass display to attack it's observers.

-Seriously…-

He was trapped in the dark with a fucking snake that was probably lurking around as he moped. The flashlight before him revealed any shadow-filled corner and much to his relief, there was no snake. So far.

He moped over the fact that now he had no choice but to traverse through the pitch-darkness of the exhibit and hope and pray to whatever god was up there that he wouldn't run into the damn thing or something far worse. –But what could be far worse than giant undead snakes?- He grimaced and curled into himself, not wanting to find out the answer to that just yet. This only made the past events nothing but happy and distant memories. The thought of going in with only his torch as the source of hope made his skin crawl and his stomach do somersaults.

He recalled the very first incident with a snake that scarred him for life. His elementary class went to the zoo for a field trip and the keeper decided to win some 'extra cool' points and bring out their friendly female Burmese Python, Annie out for the kids to marvel at. Liv being the one most curious about the animal got to hold a heavy part of the snake in his arms along with three other kids. He was unfortunately at the tail end which curled about his shoulders..and eventually around his neck when the keeper failed to pay attention. It naturally began to squeeze which scared the living hell out of him. By the time they had wrestled the tail off of him, he was already seeing blotches and swirls of light and had to leave the excursion early. He swore off of snakes of every kind ever since.

The fear still never left him. It grabbed him, shook him like a dog with a bone and stuffed him in a corner to curl into himself like a feeble, sissy little girl. He frowned as a lock of hair passed before his eyes and he huffed, frowning at the emptiness of what the flashlight revealed. Luckily for him, the other glass displays were left intact for the smaller reptilians although he would rather deal with lizards and other small game rather than one, giant, angry-ass snake that would probably find him in his corner soon.

-Come on, Liv…stop acting like a weenie.-

Knowing that sitting and moping wasn't going to get him anywhere, he finally pushed himself up to his feet, picked up the light and continued cautiously through the darkness. Glass crunched under his feet as he traversed through the displays. Most of the smaller animals lay dead in their habits. Others squirmed and waited for death and…Most likely the rest of them were caught off guard in the recesses of their holes and little caves since some displays seemed empty. –So far, so good…- he held his breath on that thought as he looked down and realized that he had unknowingly been following a blood-smeared trail most likely left by the renegade snake. He froze mid step and followed the trail that eventually led to a vent up along the wall. –didn't know they could do that…But I really have to be careful. Blood's fresh…Means it can still be hiding up there…- he swallowed and continued on, hating the fact that he literally had to not only watch his back and front…But from the left, to the right, and even from the goddamn ceiling. He learned his lesson with the crows just a few moments ago.

Deciding that it was time to 'man up or shut-up', he silently continued through the exhibit, cautious and aware that should he make a single mistake, he could be done for and god knows how he would be done-in. The hairs rose upon the back of his neck as he continued through the dead silence and darkness. Beads of sweat began to collect upon his forehead. A lump in his throat began to swell up to the size of a golf ball. His breathing hitched at the slightest sound. It was to the point where even his own shadow would scare him. What made him nearly jump out of his skin was when he heard something fall inside the broom closet he was in the middle of passing. Immediately, he snapped both his gun and attention upon the door. Once again, he heard someone—or something rustle, causing Liv to clench his jaw.

If anything, he would rather deal with it now than avoiding it and having that mistake (literally) bite him in the ass later on. He wouldn't leave a stone unturned for anything to hide from him and attack should the opportunity arise. It was best just to open the closet, shoot anything trying to hide it's smug, ugly face, slam the door shut and continue on to get the hell out of this place. Slowly, he inched towards the door, keeping both his gun and light trained upon it.

He lowered his torch hand and grabbed the knob. –Get this over with…Three…Two…One…!-

He threw the door open and aimed his sights down at the poor man who screamed and made a sad attempt to bury himself into the collection of mops and brooms to avoid the sudden surprise attack. For a moment, Liv was surprised, but the feeling soon melted away into annoyance and fear considering the man's rather girlish screams could attract anything towards their position. Immediately, he reached in and snatched the man by the back of his collar, forcefully dragging him out. The man kicked and squirmed until he was pinned against the wall with a hand clamped over his mouth. He would've squirmed some more if the barrel of the officer's gun wasn't just inches from his eye.

"Shut…the fuck up. I'm not going to hurt you," Liv growled and slowly eased away from the man, "What the hell were you doing in there?"

The man was actually just a teenager. He sported the standard issue of a Janitor's uniform along with his curly mop of brown hair stuffed under a Patriots ball cap. The freckles upon his face wrinkled as his face contorted into terror—something Liv was accustomed to seeing. "I…I didn't know where else to go, man! The animals got loose in the zoo…don' ask me how, they just did! A..And when I came out of the bathrooms…People were screamin'…" The janitor sighed and leaned against the wall. "There were these…ugly bastids that got in th' zoo! I dunno where those assholes came from, but theys was attackin' everyone! Bitin' them n'shit… So I ran with everyone else through hea and…That's when Cindy escaped."

Liv's brow rose. "Cindy?..."

"Yeh, the Burmese we had. She started actin' weird days before all dis' crap happened! She started to eat the people who tried to get around her…So I hid in the closet…" The janitor shivered at the recollection of the screams, the snapping of human bone, the tearing of flesh, and the spilling of blood…

Liv shivered all the same. A Burmese of all things…

"I-I jus' didn't wanna die, man! What're we gonna do!" the janitor's voice escalated in which Liv's annoyance skyrocketed agan and he clamped his hand over the young man's mouth again. The hell if he was going to let this dumbass cause a racket and get the both of them killed!

"For starters, we're gonna play the quiet game here. I think that snake is still lurking around here and standing here and panicking isn't going to do shit for us. We'll get the hell out of here, but we need to stay calm and quiet…Understand?" The janitor quickly nodded his head in compliance, looking wide-eyed down at the officer who had one hell of a short fuse. Then again, no one can be blamed for being so irritable in a shit-tastic situation like this, right?

The palm of Liv's hand slowly slid away from the Janitor's mouth and fell back onto his pistol. Without another word, Liv continued on his way, illuminating a path into the darkness of the exhibit.

A/N: Heeey! Ohh…L-Lol Looks like I posted a little consistently. D: Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! It was kinda sitting in the dust around the end of June and I just wanted to proof-read it to make sure everything about it was at least up to par. I'm back at my moms (not homeless yay!) and so far, things are working out. I'm still workin on getting a place, but imma take this time to write, relax, enjoy my outings and save up my money! Stay tuned!