I know this probably wasn't where you were expecting this story to go, but please bear with me. It's about midnight where I am, I just got off of my first real-ish shift at work, and after downing a Diet Coke and watching the new RWBY I had a brain storm and a small epiphany of the direction of where I wanted to go. Originally when I started this I had all the intentions of it being like a Warm Bodies kind of things, but as I grew invested and you the fans seemed to love my work (for reasons beyond my comprehension) I decided I would make this more of my own. I am taking the evolution and mutation of the Green Flu to a whole new level as even base Infected grow to be more intelligent, almost like ants or bees rather than rabid dogs. I can guarantee you will like what I do with this, and if you don't then that's your right but I have a vision as to where I want to go and I hope it evokes the emotions in you I plan for it to. Help me hunt my dream...that was really tacky...

Hunting a Dream

It had been three months…not three hard grueling months like I expected it to be, but three months of change, both silent and violent. Food stores at the CEDA building had been surprisingly high, and since Newton and I didn't need to eat or drink, the stores that were there as well as what Becca and the others had scrounged up when we first entered had lasted. We had gone looting and scrounging for anything else we might need and had created a secure little compound. Tanner found sun-lamps and some other supplies that allowed us to set up a garden in the basement where we could grow crops; he said it wasn't too different from growing pot. We had all changed appearance wise as well. Sarah looked more vibrant and less sullen; she had grown out her Asian pop-star looking hair and had nice long black hair. She dressed pretty much the same in those khaki pants and an anime T-shirt, but she also wore a hoodie now instead of that raggedy sweater. Will had grown a beard and had cast off most of his old clothes. Now he wore a black sleeveless and his letter-man jacket. He wore blue jeans and some combat boots, and he had grown out a nice beard. With his blonde hair it looked almost gold now that he had found a way to get the showers up and running. Even if they were just chemical showers, at least the others and I could keep clean. Tanner kept the usual T-shirt and leather jacket with jeans, but his hair had grown out a little and it was shaggy chestnut brown. Becca had her hair tied back in her usual ponytail with a section of it parted over one eye, but she had dyed the natural black with blue highlights. I thought it looked rather cute, in a punk kind of way. She had her hoodie and jeans, and she seemed a little happier as of late.

Newton and I had been changing too. Newton had been growing in height slowly, until he had reached regular height. He still had lanky muscular arms and legs, but now he was more like an orangutan than a freaky zombie hunchback. He was limber, and strong, and fast…and boy was he smart too. He had an almost Einsteinian level of awareness and problem solving. I had pretty much remained the same. My mind was sharper as were my sense and reaction time, I could think and speak as easily as any of the others, and I had progressed physically to a super-human point. I was stronger than Will, faster than any of them, and I could scale a building in a matter of seconds. That was another thing I loved, these new claws. My old ones were clunky and got in my way, and if it wasn't for my deft fingers I'd have screwed up so much stuff, but now my claws had developed so I could retract or extend them like a cat. I mostly kept them retracted so that they looked like regular fingernails, but everyone else knew better. I had added a trench-coat to my ensemble because I thought it looked badass to have my hood up and have the thick coat hanging down like some kind of grim reaper. My skin was still gray, but at least my eyes had gone to being yellow with pupils now. Becca said they'd shift to slits in the dark, and I had noticed that I saw better in the dark than in the light, so I kept my hood up often so I could see better. I had gotten a hair-cut recently thanks to Becca, luckily it wasn't too bad but let's just say there's more than one reason to keep my hood up…you can't look intimidating when you look like you just got out of a salon. Luckily I didn't let her use too much blue, but now I had what did she call it…frosty tips? I looked like her pet, and I felt even lower…but I kept my mouth shut, I was good at that, and just kept on doing what I do.

Our numbers grew as a few other Outcasts and some Survivors joined us as well. Blaire and April had found us, and Becca made it a point to cloth Blaire, but since she wouldn't wear anything but white she dressed her in a white button down and some khakis which Becca had to fight her into. April stayed the same and tried to avoid contact as much as possible with the others but I made sure she remembered we were still brother and sister as I took care of her and made her feel at home. Our final Outcast was actually a soldier who had been in the CEDA compound who had turned into a Smoker; we just called him Sarge because that was his rank. The evolution progressed the same in me and April, but Blaire's was different. Her skin pigmentation returned to the pink of human's and her eyes had changed back as well though her irises were still red. Her claws had shrunk to where she just looked like she had pointy fingers, and she could extend them like April and I. Sarge looked normal with the exception of his non-retractable claws and extending tongue. Luckily it wasn't as bad as other Smokers where half his jaw was missing, it was more like Toad from X-Men…actually his whole physiology was like that, as he could jump higher than the rest of us and his kicks and punches carried more weight to them.

Other Infected had popped up in the city as well; scary things. I had classified them. One was like a Witch, except it was a male. I only saw one of them wandering around and it couldn't speak, but it commanded Infected with shouts and growls. It had long black hair in contrast to the Witch, and it had human looking skin. It's eyes were black as night, no light in them at all, almost like a shark. It's lips and mouth area looked either burnt or melted by acid, as it had that constant evil grin through bits of flesh and skin. It had long razor-sharp claws and had full jeans and bare feet. I had classified it as Maverick as it had a bad temper and seemed to love mutilating it's victims. The other was bald, and it had no mouth. It had strange slit on its throat like gills, from which it made sounds from a high-pitched whistle to a low growl to even mimicking voices. Their leader was the only one with a mouth, a woman who I had designated Swan as she would often sing with her mouth and lure survivors to their death. For this I had classified them as Siren's, beasts who led others astray. The final one had quills that grew from its body and spikes like bone fragments. It could shoot these from its body and used these for ranged attacks to pin survivors or eradicate them. These were smart, and often stalked our scavenging groups; which is why I would accompany them. The Spikers, as I called them, sensed with their quills and detected the noise and movement of Survivors. But I made no noise, and when I moved I was a shadow…a Hunter. I would find and kill them before they did too much damage.

We didn't have a large group, just another five Survivors added to our group. An old teacher from Becca's school, an old veteran like Old Smoky, a priest from Sarah's church, another soldier a Private who served under Sarge, and Will's coach. They didn't trust us Outcasts at first, and to be honest I didn't need them too I just wanted to protect them, if they didn't appreciate that they could leave. But they had grown to work with us and life had gotten better. Newton had drafted the teacher and the priest to help him in the lab. We had designated the priest as our doctor since he knew the most about medicine. He helped test the blood I had given and the blood they extracted from the others. I had to stay by Blaire when she got her blood drawn. Despite her appearance, she's like a big child. She can't speak like the rest of us, and she needs a lot of help, but she keeps everyone's spirits up with her cheery attitude and playful manner. Things were good, and life was improving. We decided to form a small society there we had labeled the Outcast Faction. We held on to our section of the city and April and I reached out to other Infected to try and find more Outcasts every day. There weren't many like us, and lately the intelligence of certain Infected had improved. Those like Myra and Boom's brother Chuck. But they were not Outcast's. They had joined Maverick and Swan to create a small band of intelligents that ruled over the lesser Infected. Tanks were still a threat to their regime, and these…Puppeteers, were going through a war against the Tanks of the city. The lesser Infected were still killing one another, but even they were evolving. Some of them were capable of speech and independent thought. Although they still shared the group mind, they acted as shepherds for the others. Things would get worse before they got better, and it looked like the city would soon be at all-out war…the question was though, who would stand on top?