"Hey kid?" I asked. Emilio turned his head with a nod. "Where are we, I mean I know we'er in Nevada but where in Nevada?" I questioned.
"Uhhh, I think my brother said we were in Las Vegas ." he answered .
"What!" I exclaimed. This place looked nothing like Sin city. I guess I had never taken in the scenery until now. I looked around for any sign that this dusty worn down city was once a city filled with lights and life ,and I found it. I could now see the reminisces of gambling chips litter the streets and all the busted lights on the once neon colored building that once lured people in like flies to a light. The chaos that took place here a year ago had now changed the whole city. The once pristine metallic look of the signs and light poles, had now been rusted to the point of being eaten away. "I didn't even notice."
"I don't think anyone could have. This place looks and smells like a rotting dump." Emilio blurted out, interrupting my thoughts.
"Please, a rotting dump would smell much better than this place." I exclaimed. We were now only 3 blocks away to here Emilio said his brother had been. I decided to stick to the allies instead of walking the streets like I usually do. The city had been much more over run than what I had thought in the begging. I didn't want to take any chances, especially when Emilio was with me.
"Max?"
"Yeah, Emilio."
"How old are you?" curios one was he.
"How old am I?" I repeated the question, I had to think about this. I hadn't had human interaction in a long time, which meant I didn't really have to answer questions about myself. Which meant I didn't need to think about my personal life, the only thing that has been going through my head this past year was kill or die. Nothing about family, friends, myself, and nothing about my past life."Well ...I think I'm ...17?"I questioned myself."Yeah.. lets just go with 17. What about you?"
"8 and a half." he stated simply."Max?"
"Yes" I sighed, another question.
"Who was the family member you killed when this all started. I remember you said that you had to kill the last of your family." this question caught me a bit off guard.
"My uncle." I his strait face he had on before had now dropped into a frown.
"I'm sorry." he stated.
"Don't be ... I probably would have killed him anyway. Drunk bastard deserved it." I chuckled.
"Oh ... well that's sad."
" Not really" I said mostly to myself " I think of the life now and find it a lot better than my life before."
"So your life before people tried to eat you." he asked surprised.
"What." I chuckled" No... my life before this was harder. Mostly because I had to take care of someone that hurt me in ways unimaginable. But in this life I'm free to do what I want without taking care of anyone, except for the exception of certain little boys found in an ally crying over a half eaten dog." we laughed at that statement. After our laugh had ended we walked in silence with the exception of moans and groans that came from the streets outside of the ally we were walking through.
"Hey I think we'er here." Emilio blurted out in excitement. I looked up from a body that I had been inspecting as we walked. At the end of the ally I could see 3 dead bodies laying at the entrance and gun fire. "How the hell did I miss the sound of gun fire?" I asked myself.
"I don't know?" Emilio answered my question for me before sprinting down the ally way. Oh no.
" Hey kid!" I yelled as I sprinted after him " STOP!" I screamed. He stopped dead in his tracks as my voice echoed off the dark blood stained walls. I reached him in a split second grabbing him by the shoulder and pulling him to me trying to get his attention.
"Hey don't just run like that again." I exclaimed" You don't even now whats up there. You could be running into a hoard of Zombies and not know it!" I yelled . His eyes peeling off from the entrance of the ally for a second and then back. In that second all I had seen in those little light green eyes were fear. I turned toward entrance of the ally and witness what was causing this fear in those small little eyes. I must had become oblivious to everything wile I was chasing after Emilio that I had not noticed the pile of dead bodies that had started to fill into the allies entrance. "Crap...our scent must not be masked anymore." I mumbled under my breath. I head counted the amount of dead bodies piling in and estimated around 14 black oozing bodies stumbling their way to us. "Great. Just what I need , some play time."I smiled to myself. I looked up the ally walls and spotted as ladder leading to the roof of a two story building. " OK" I said while pulling out my 9mm checking it was loaded all the way " Here's whats going to happen. You'er going to climb up that ladder and stay on the roof. When I'm done handling this situation we'er in I'll come up an d get you. Got it?" Emilio nodded and ran to the ladder a few feet away from us. He was half way up before he turned around and looked at me with fear.
"What if you don't come and get me." he asked weak.
"I'll get you. K. End of discussion. Now do what I said." he nodded and disappeared over the roof. I turned back to the groaning objects that were making their way over to me, I cocked the pistol and aimed for the first head my eyes focused out. I pulled the trigger back letting the bullet loose to meet its rotting victim. The bullet hit the target right between the eyes. "Perfect shot" I smiled to my self. I took another aim letting the bullets fly from my barrel making each shot a perfect one. Before I knew it I was out of bullets and out of objects to kill.I took a deep breath and accessed the work I did. Every body containing one bullet hole in between the eyes. "I must be a mutant " I laughed as I made my way over toward the ladder leaving my work behind me. My cloths had now been sprayed with black blood from the heads that had exploded. I could feel it start to dry on my arms and face as I made my way up the ladder with my gun and knife in my belt .
I finally reached the top of the ladder throwing myself over the edge of the roof, my feet hitting the ground. I could still hear gunfire and yelling in the distance as someone tried to fight of a hoard I'm guessing." Emilio!" I whispered loudly. There was about 6 air conditioners all silent and along with a pile of garbage and a door leading into the building on the roof. "Emilio!" I called once again, still no answer. I huffed out becoming frustrated "Emil-" I stared but was quickly interrupted by a muffle of rocks moving behind the A.C.'s. " Hey, kid come out." I started to walk over to the A.C.'s . Still no answer . I was becoming worried no, I walked quietly while pulling out my pistol and cocking it ready to kill. "Emilio" I called once more. Another muffle came along with a small groan.
Before I could react I was already shoved to the ground with a heavy weight on me with my gun slipping from my hand and hitting the ground at the same time as me and my attacker. My head being the first to hit the ground taking my weight with me. My vision began to spot as I tried to push what was on me off. As my vision came back I could see a crispy skinned zombie with its face pecked off by crows. The skin was now hanging lose on is talon marked skull, its mouth filled with feathers and rotten flesh from past birds that had been gnawed on. I was holding its shoulder back with one hand the flesh of the body tearing off as it jerked its festering mouth toward my throat. The only thing keeping me alive being my fore arm holding its thought and chin back. If I tried to reach for my gun then this thing would certainly have a good meal on my throat, the same would happen if I were to go for my knife in my belt. I had only one choice, to reach for the closest thing to me being my knife.
I took a deep breath and pushed my fore arm harder up into the throat of the zombie making a crunch and squish. My hand leaving the shoulder of the body . I didn't quite know how strong this one was because in that spit second I moved my hand the zombie was now on its way to its lunch. I tired to grab my knife but knew it was to late before I could wrap my hand around it. I lifted up my body making the rotting teeth sink into my shoulder instead of my throat. The pain was almost unbearable and the teeth sunk in further. All this fighting just to end up like this. The jaw started to tighten but stopped suddenly. The body going limp on my own.
There had been a gunshot that I didn't hear that made its way to my attackers head. The black blood oozing and spraying all over me covering up the bite with its own blood. 'Now I'm for sure infected' I thought to my self. I rolled the body off of me finally feeling air enter my lungs. I coughed slightly as the dust from the air entered my lungs. I rolled on to my stomach and started to lift my self up on all fours to see the killer of my own killer. I lifted my self up on to me feet with the pain in my shoulder course through my body. As I lifted my head my eyes met two pairs of green eyes. There stood Emilio with shock on his face and standing right next to him stood a boy about my age with the same black hair and black obsidian eyes with a smoking gun in his hand.
"Fang? " I whispered, not believing the sight in front of me .

-Different Mind Set