Seeing a middle aged man stumbling around I grimaced already seeing the decayed grey skin and the cloying scent of rotting meat that marked this man as a victim of the zombie virus as what used to be a human shambled towards my friends. Chewing my lower lip I wondered if I was seeing things, the virus supposedly wiped out along with most of the population of Raccoon City. That I knew for a fact but as I blinked slowly rubbing at my sky blue eyes, the sight of the stumbling man didn't leave my view and I groaned in an almost direct parody of the undead.
The man groaned, blood dripping from his decayed lips and I swallowed looking towards one of my friends as the clearly infected headed his way my mind whirling that this could be either be a new strain and the re-emergence of the same virus that decimated the city. "Dale, heads up!" I yelled and the FBI agent turned around raising an eyebrow at me in surprise at being addressed by his first name and not Agent Cooper. "Infected coming your way!"
"Infected? Megan, what are you talking about?" He replied as his attention moved from me to the man drooling blood onto the pavement and he frowned. Once the zombie managed to half the distance now getting far too close to Agent Cooper and Sheriff Truman for my liking I reacted. Moving faster than I thought I could I reached them before the undead, raising both of my palms before I shoved the infected backwards.
"Leave him alone, zombie." I snapped at it kicking it directly in the chest with my heel before it could recover from my first blow. "Dale, shoot it! Aim for the head!"
"I can't just shoot an unarmed civilian, Megan." Dale called back, looking at me with raised eyebrows as the zombie stumbled to its feet groaning softly before it shambled towards him. Up close Dale could see that its jaw was covered in blood, what little teeth still remaining in its jaw broken and he grimaced at the sight momentarily distracted until the zombie had its arms outstretched, its broken fingernails scratching at his jacket and he stepped back his hand moving to his gun.
To my continued frustration Dale slammed the butt of his gun into the base of the zombie's skull instead of shooting it, kicking the zombie in the kneecap. "Dale, it's a zombie not a person anymore. Don't let it bite you." I warned him as he leaned down only to recoil when the zombie's reached for his right leg and Dale stumbled back.
"Megan, what the hell is your problem?" Harry snapped at me, reaching down to pull the infected man to his feet by the collar of his shirt. Ignoring my warning to keep away he managed to pull the man upright only to have his left hand too close to its mouth and the zombie took the opportunity to grasp the outstretched hand. Harry let out a yell pulling his hand from its grasp before the zombie had a chance to bite down.
Off-balance the zombie's head hit the pavement with an audible crack and I winced moving to stand at my friends' side as the zombie finally quit moving. Harry continued to stare at the now very dead man lying face first on the pavement under his feet until I finally cleared my throat and both men stared as I lightly nudged the zombie, pulling my foot back out of range just in case it wasn't really dead.
"Harry, that was a zombie not a man." I pointed out as he chewed his lip looking pale as Dale knelt beside it. As soon as I see the agent's hand moving too close for my liking to the undead I knelt down beside him and he blinked as I snatched his hand away, holding his arm by the wrist. "Would you and Harry kindly stop trying to get bitten? One bite and you're one of those." I sighed, nodding towards the infected and now finally dead man lying at our feet. "I know about that first hand."
"Megan, what are you talking about? A zombie?" Dale asked when I released his wrist, climbing to my feet as he did.
"Didn't you hear about Raccoon City?" I replied, throwing my hands up when both men raise their eyebrows at me. "Oh for the love of...fine. We'll go back to the station and I'll explain what I know about the virus."
"Not before we drop...John Doe here at the hospital." Harry finally answered and I turn my head to stare at him until he cleared his throat. "For an autopsy, Megan. We can't just leave him lying in the street for someone to stumble across."
"I know you don't believe me but when they open the zombie up you will." I told them, crossing my arms when Dale looked at me curiously. "I've seen enough zombies to know what they'll find." I added with a thin smile.
"Something tells me you've had experience with this kind of thing before." Dale interrupted, noting the way my eyes widened. A flash of memory about escaping the city as it lay in ruins before I quickly fixed a thin smile onto my lips but Dale caught the look of horror on my face.
"Not really but the stories I've heard. Anyway shouldn't we get someone to take the body away? He doesn't smell to good and the smell's not getting any better from this close." I asked, looking over at the nearby lake my eyes moving to the ducks swimming across it so I wouldn't have to look at the now very dead body lying close to my feet. Or remember what had happened to Raccoon City the the place I once called home as I ran a hand through my shoulder-length black hair.