It took me a while with this one, because I had to do a lot of research into viral infections to further my plot. I hope you like what I did, read and review.

Hunting a Dream

I don't know how long I knelt there looking at the flames, but I do know that even after they had gone out I still starred at the charred corpses that lay there. Smoky and Boom were my friends…and I had betrayed them, all for some Livy who may or may not have liked me. Why did I even care, I mean, it's not like she was any different from the rest of them. She was a hunk of meat that walked, talked, and was destined to be eaten. But she was special to us. Great, now my own conscience is slamming my ass about this. She wasn't that special, she was just…different…she reminded him of Red Witch. She was smart, strong, and she was obviously the leader despite what Will and Sarah thought. If it wasn't for Becca they would have all fallen apart. I made a mistake, but I was not about to lose her. I had sat by and watched for so long…as long as I had been alive, but now I was going to take action. It was a moment of clarity, what do the Livies call them…epiphanies? I ran down to my apartment and began to pack my stuff. My whiteboard and black cylinders into a backpack with a few of my finished…paintings I think Becca had called them. I packed the rest of my paint supplies and a few of my favorite movies into a small duffel bag and prepared to leave. I turned only to see two of my sisters who had come to console me. Myra and April; Myra was strong and stubborn she was like any typical Hunter. April was different, she was like me; intelligent. Myra had brought me a hand of Livy flesh grinning wickedly. April had a more sympathetic look and offered me something she had no doubt taken from a survivor. It was a pendant, it wasn't fancy or anything, probably carved out of trees, with a strange snake carved on it. I took it gratefully and wrapped it around my neck. I looked toward Myra and kindly accepted the hand nodding kindly, but with disgust. She smiled, obviously pleased with herself and motioned for me to eat. Instead I unclenched the hand and found a small coin in his palm. It had a man on one side and an eagle on the other. It was spectacular and shiny, I stared at it and handed Myra back the hand. I growled a thank you to them. April looked at me with concern as I stepped up to the edge of the fire escape. I smiled and leaned back, letting gravity take me. I felt the air rush by as I fell and heard April shriek in surprise. I did a quick flip and landed on my feet before walking casually off down the road, towards Becca's scent.

Becca wasn't sure what to make of last night, but she didn't care. They had moved on and Ray was gone from her life. She was back to the survival game with Will, Sarah, and Tanner. However, she had made them swear that from now on she called the shots as team leader. Things had gone surprisingly well so far, they had gone through a good portion of the city without encountering heavy groups of infected. They had reached a small hitch in their plans, as a construction site they were passing through had a crane that had left a large amount of pipes in their way. "Can't we just…go around…or over?" Tanner asked.

"No, I'd rather not risk shifting the pipes so we get wedged in between them. Let's crank up the crane and work on moving the pipes that way." Becca said pointing to an empty portion of the lot that wasn't in their way.

Will hopped up of the crane and got to work shifting them. The activation of the machinery made a loud noise, and Becca heard the horde calling in the distance. "Here they come!" She screamed leveling the shotgun she had grabbed at the safe-house. The first of the horde rounded the corner of a nearby building, and Sarah threw a pipe bomb. As they chased it, Tanner readied his Molotov and Becca readied another pipe bomb. With a loud bang Will hopped off the crane and tossed his Molotov at the entrance to the construction yard. "Let's get moving!"

They all took off running and Tanner ducked off into an abandoned apartment complex. "Tanner, what are we doing we need to get moving to the safe house!"

"What's the point of getting there if we have no food?"

Becca groaned and ran in after him, Sarah and Will hot on her heels. They hadn't got more than a few feet before they heard Tanner scream and fire off a few rounds from his pistol. "Tanner!"

She charged around the corner with her shotgun level, seeing a Hunter with Tanner gripped by the neck and wearing a…backpack? "Ray?"

The Hunter turned and waved before growling and gnashing his teeth at Tanner, "Ray put him down…behave."

Ray growled and set him down, "Assssss…hole!" He said, coughing out the last word as he struggled hard to speak.

"Ray…you spoke!"

He was obviously as surprised as she was because he looked at himself and smiled at her. Tanner quickly raised his pistol to Ray's head and pulled the trigger. Becca didn't have time to scream but luckily she didn't have to. It clicked harmlessly as it did when she first met him, and Ray tossed her Tanner's magazine. "When did he do that?"

Becca laughed, "Tanner, this is my friend Ray…he has deft fingers."

Ray shrugged and walked over to her, a little blood coming from his shoulder when he moved it. "Idiot, you got yourself hurt."

He growled and pointed at Tanner as if to say, "Wasn't my fault, this asshole shot me!"

"Well you weren't being friendly."

Will rounded the corner, "Sorry to break up the reunion, but if we want food we need to hurry; the Infected aren't slowing down! Hello Ray, how's it going?"

Ray waved and then motioned for them to follow him as he ran up the stairs. As he did, he would knock on certain doors and the keep moving. They quickly picked up that those places had food and ran in to grab what little they could before moving on. Ray led them to the roof; once they were all there, Ray pulled out a metal bar and twisted it around the door handles to keep it in place. Becca pulled out the map quickly and tried to figure out where they were. She pulled out binoculars and looked at the street signs and quickly discovered where they had to go. They went rooftop to rooftop until they had arrived at the small, heavily barricaded gun-shop. Becca made Ray wait on the roof until they had inspected it to see if it was clear of any gun-toting maniacs. Seeing as no one was there, she motioned for him to enter. The minute he walked in he walked over to a corner and set down his stuff and slouched against the wall.

I was tired, and I'm sure Becca and her friends had a lot to talk about letting a Hunter stay in the same room as them. I know I hadn't been invited in per se, but I was tired for the first time in…ever…I had scaled whole buildings, run miles, and carefully moved around the city to paint. But never during that time had I been tired. I don't know what it is about Becca that takes it out of me, but for some reason it does. My whole body ached and I just wanted to sleep. But since I knew I couldn't sleep I just took out the coin from my pocket and began to flip it over my fingers. I don't know why, but I had heard somewhere that it was a dexterity exercise. Becca walked up to me, "Hoodie and shirt come off, hurry up!"

I looked around and removed them. I was embarrassed of my grey, bruised skin, but on further inspection I realized that my bruises were gone. She walked up with latex gloves and stuck her knife in my shoulder wound and cut her way to the bullet before reaching in and pulling it out. She carefully sewed up the wound and looked at me; obviously she didn't hear me screaming at her because when she saw me glaring at her and baring my teeth she truly looked surprised. "Um…I'm sorry?"

I grunted and turned my head. She removed her gloves and cupped my head in her hands turning it towards me. She looked into my eyes and stared intently, "Hey Will…are an Infected's eyes supposed to be this color?"

Will walked over and looked at me, taking a step back in surprise. I began to panic and Becca motioned for Sarah saying, "Bring a mirror."

Sarah walked over and showed me my reflection; I had never seen what I looked like so I was surprised to see myself. I had shaggy black hair and different colored eyes. One was yellow, and what I'd seen that was unnatural. The other eye was red with a slit instead of a pupil. My teeth that used to be razor pointed like a shark had become more like their teeth, with the exception that my canine teeth were longer and sharper than theirs. My welts over my skin were gone, and I had what looked like…muscles. "Have you ever seen a Hunter look like that? It's like he's…human."

I looked at myself and thought about it, other Hunters were always rotting and so were the other Infected. With each passing day the virus ate away at their body and they became more and more like walking corpses than sick people. However, my disease had subsided and it looked like my muscles had repaired themselves. My body was assimilating to look more human. I quickly ran over to my backpack and pulled out the whiteboard and began writing, "I'm not becoming human, I think…I'm evolving…not all Infected are intelligent, but there are others like me."

"So what," Tanner said, "Infected start turning mutating into Special Infected and then the 'chosen ones' start evolving? Do you know how retarded that sounds?"

"Maybe not," Becca said, "Ray, you asked earlier if we were Immune or not. Well we've encountered all those Special Infected and I'm sure that with all the blood we got on us we should have turned by now. So what if…what if the virus or whatever this is, is adaptive. It changes to infect and survive. But in a body where someone fights the infection or it lays dormant in their genes without turning them…you have someone who's immune…or is a Carrier."

I think I was beginning to get what she was saying. I hadn't been Immune and I had turned, but my physiology adapted the virus and I retained my mind after infection. Then it mutated and I became a Hunter and the virus almost overwhelmed me again. But once again my body had adapted and begun to work with the virus to create something stronger. The mutation hadn't created a monster, it had jumpstarted evolution. "So you're saying that the next stage of human evolution is these…Infected?"

"Well…no Tanner," Becca replied, "Through the course of human history there have been natural disasters to eradicate mankind, and the strong always evolve and adapt. This virus, while it does make living hard because a majority of the population is now mindless-flesh eaters. It does single out the Carriers, the Immune, and the…we need a term for you Ray."

I wrote down, "Outsiders…the intelligent Infected are Outsiders."

"Right, so Carriers, Immune, and Outsiders have been selected based on genes to carry on the human race into its next step of evolution."

"So…we all get to become monsters?"

"Tanner! Ray is not a monster, he is my friend…and he is a lot different than other Infected."

"Um…excuse me?" Sarah asked, "But does that mean Ray's genes could hold the cure?"

They all looked at me and I looked at the ground, "Maybe…save all…but…no Test!" I struggled to say that much, it took me about 3 minutes to articulate that thought. They stood and stared at me as I spoke, and I stood grabbing my shirt and hoodie to go to sleep. Becca stopped me and bandaged my midsection and helped me get my clothes on without shredding them. She noticed my necklace and lifted it to her face. "Weird…snake…" I said.

"It's called a dragon…it's a symbol of good luck."

I don't know where April had gotten it, or if she even knew what it meant. But I smiled at Becca and wrapped my hand tight around the necklace. They all slipped into their sleeping bags and went to bed. For the first time since I could remember, I closed my eyes and slept as well.