It was the wet, crunching sound that woke Vinny up. His head ached something terrible and the world spun slowly around him, so he decided against keeping his eyes open, opting to close them and listen to the sounds.
Then he realized what it was.
Vinny's eyes snapped open and he found himself staring across the street. Snow stuck to his eyelashes making everything a bit foggy, but he didn't dare reach up to wipe it away. A witch (THE witch perhaps) was crouched over the re-dead corpse of the tank. Thick black blood dribbled down the storm drain from the prone form, the only movement besides the snowflakes was the witch bending over every so often to pull out a new organ. Every time it did so, something would pop and "fresh" blood would run down the zombie's arms, soaking into the white shirt, torn down the middle.
Needless to say it was too close for comfort, Vinny could only hope that it wouldn't notice him, so long as he remained quiet and didn't move. But of course the moment holding still became a priority he found himself unable to do so, as the snow melted and dripped into his eye, an itch developed under his chin and his leg decided to cramp just hard enough to hurt like a bitch. Oh, and a sneeze.
Vinny's eyes watered as he watched the witch. The thing remained oblivious, either it was the fruits of his painful labor or it was too engrossed in pealing rotten flesh from a rib with its tongue and canine, a feat Vinny would have marveled and (lets be real here) fantasized about. Minus the whole flesh rippy-offy thing of course.
God damn he had to sneeze. Vinny stifled it just enough to make it a barely audible, but in his mind it sounded like a gunshot. The witch paused. Vinny mentally swore. It turned and crouched down, bloody and deadly, teeth barely fitting in a gaunt face, claws scraping the asphalt. Vinny prayed. It watched quietly. Vinny was so scared he repeated "dear god fuck me" several times before realizing the implications.
Oddly enough it didn't attack. That was good, that was really good, Vinny didn't want to tempt it by whispering for it to stay right there. He took a deep breath and let it out quietly, hoping it didn't notice his chest rise and fall. No movement. This was getting confusing, the only thing that seemed to pause before attacking was a hunter or maybe a jockey if you were really lucky. But that was usually because they were getting ready to spring, Witches didn't do that as far as he knew.
Slowly Vinny collected himself, the zombie didn't make any move so he allowed himself to study it a bit. It was bulkier than any other witch that he had tip toed past before, not to mention obviously taller. It's hair was white and it did have the blood stained claws, but something wasn't right.
It was the eyes.
The thought hit Vinny with a flash of adrenalin. The eyes weren't focused. It couldn't see.
Oh and it didn't have breasts. The big tip off was the fact its shirt was ripped down the front and wide open, maybe the jeans that stuck to every lump and crevice. A male witch. Vinny didn't even know if that was possible, god help him if this was a new zombie, but that didn't seem very likely.
So that made this a blind, male witch, that just so happened to have accidentally saved his life. This wasn't luck, it was a fluke and a terrifying one at that, the thing was shifting its weight slightly off its arms and back onto its haunches, staring in Vinny's general direction. Blood dripped down its chin and from the ends of its hair into a growing puddle at its feet. Something wet and visceral unstuck it's self from its -his- arm and landed with a small plop next to a frighteningly large claw. Slowly Vinny shifted his own weight, watching the thing with an intensity only prey can muster. One wrong move, one badly timed breath or grunt, and it was over. No more blind luck saving his ass, no more getting begged by some creepy fuck to grab the man child's waifu sex pillow thing. No nothing, maybe an eternity spent wandering around an apartment building's parking lot if there was enough of him left to wander. The witch didn't move, just sat quietly, and somehow that made the tension so much worse. Just a little more….. Vinny managed to get to his knees. At least now they were eye to blind eye.
It was starting to get brighter out, maybe a little warmer if Vinny could feel his face. The change in position left him a bit woozy and reminded him of the head ache that fear and adrenaline and let him forget. The thing continued to stare blankly, looking eerie. The only movement it made was a slight swaying with the breeze, any remotely comforting motions, even things as simple as breathing, were nonexistent. Then it tensed slightly. Vinny tensed up as well, glancing around frantically.
Nothing moved.
Then it turned and stuck its face into the chest cavity of the tank.
Vinny relaxed slightly and pushed himself to his feet. That was a mistake. He stumbled and grabbed the lamp post, doubling over and throwing up what little he had in his stomach as everything turned an alarming shade of grey. He was barely able to keep from collapsing, if that didn't catch the attention of the witch then officially nothing would.
Vinny managed to get behind the lamp post in time to block the brunt of the zombie's attack, he could barely hear its scream from the buzzing in his head and the movement didn't help at all. The second time it attacked he let it. They both hit the ground with enough force to drive the breath from Vinny's lungs and for a moment he blacked out, but a pain in his ribs brought him back enough for him to push the thing away. The witch gave a snarl and snapped at his hand so Vinny let it drop, giving a small sob of resignation to his fate.
The witch darted forward, mouth open, growling loudly. Vinny covered his face. The movement caught the thing off guard, or maybe it just didn't care. It bumped its face into his hand and hissed in annoyance, biting at his palm, causing it's teeth to scrap against him. Vinny flinched and pushed the witch back roughly, which it obviously didn't like as it screeched loudly and bit him hard. Vinny cried out and shoved it back with his knee, scrambling away. Then losing his balance and collapsing. The witch grunted and doubled over, wheezing as putrid air was forced out. Vinny couldn't move even if he wanted to, cold and blood loss from the wound on his side was making any weakness felt before double. The thing crawled forward, hissing. Vinny didn't put his hands up, he just lay there watching it. It got close enough and began to lap at the blood already pooling and freezing on the asphalt. He could smell it, old and dusty smelling like a basement, it must have stopped rotting a while ago, or maybe the cold had freeze dried it.
Hysteria started to build up as the thing inched closer, licking the blood as it went. Vinny whimpered and looked away as he noticed the wound on his side, there was something interesting about how cold the sky looked, or maybe he was just getting delusional.
"For all you know I could be poisonous." Vinny giggled, staring at the clouds. The witch didn't stop so he continued. "You thought turning into whatever the fuck you are was bad? Well after eating me it'll be a trillion times worse."
Thick, fluffy grey clouds floated by, the dawn light catching it just so, making everything look pink and deceptively warm.
Vinny closed his eye and mumbled, "At least make it quick will you? I know you're dead and really fucking weird, but at least wait for me to die before you eat me okay?"
He felt something cold press against his wounded side and hissed softly as it probed the gash. It paused slightly and moved up, sucking on the edges of the wound. Vinny's eyes watered and a tear slipped down his cheek, caused by pain. Finally it moved away from his injury and he felt it's cold skin as it brushed against his exposed side. Vinny opened his eyes and immediately regretted it. The witch was only inches from his face, eyes staring blankly, tongue still out of its mouth. Vinny shrank back ever so slightly, breathing faster with panic. "Just kill me." He whispered, his voice shrill. It licked his cheek, tasting his tears. Vinny was as close to fainting as he thought possible and that counted the time he had gone on a roller-coaster and discovered his fear of heights.
It didn't seem to like the taste of his tears; it wrinkled its nose and hissed, shaking its head. Vinny watched as it leaned back; resting on its haunches again, claws poking small holes in Vinny's coat as it dragged them across his chest. He gave up trying to figure out what it was going to do next; it just kind of sat there, looking blank and dead. Vinny went back to staring at the sky.
This time nothing moved.