Aw fuck dude lmao. Happy 11 years of whatever the hell this is anymore. Ch C's re-write is complete and uploaded. You should go read that, maybe before this one I dunno...

6(?) months since first Infection

One fine morning, Divine looked up, and noticed the sky was blue.

A blue sky, with the barest wisps of clouds that looked like they had been painted on. She shivered from a brisk spring breeze, huddled under a blanket across her shoulders. But she looked up at the sky, blue as could be, and thought, 'I've never seen it like this before'.

No roaring planes racing across, leaving behind stark white streaks. No noisy helicopters buzzing around like angry bees. Just open blue skies yawning onto a flat horizon. Growing up in California, she was accustomed to being surrounded on all sides, whether it be the urban jungle, or the sloping mountains that the cities nestled themselves between. The skies were crowded with aircraft flying above tall palm trees and skyscrapers, always tinged a hazy orange.

But not here. Not now. Not anymore.

When was the last time she had seen anything in the big, blue sky anymore aside from birds, and the occasional leaping Hunter?

Divine sat on the porch steps of the farmhouse they were currently calling "home". It was only a mile outside of Bridgerton, the outlines of the town still plainly visible. But if she sat on the right side of the house and looked west, it was all flat farmland. And it was easy to trick herself, for just a moment, that it was just them alone in the world.

She liked to sit out here in the early morning, watching the land wake up from its nightly slumber, and just have a little moment of peace with herself. She had a ritual now; crawl out of bed, stumble into the kitchen to heat up some water on a camping stove, and fix herself a cup of instant coffee. Then come out to the porch, and sit, and just… Be. For the first time in a long while, she felt grounded during her little "Me Moments". That she could just sit there and wax philosophies to herself about man, and nature, and change.

Almost like a real Henry David Thoreau, if he had turned into a zombie.

If only her "servants" were actually useful. Instead they just came sniffing around her like lost puppies begging for attention. Zach announced himself, almost as usual now, with a loud snuff as he crawled up behind her to stick his nose to the back of her head for a few moments, then chirped approvingly before he trotted off to roll through the fresh grass in front of her.

More annoyingly enough, Toni appeared without any real warning, he was just suddenly there and shoving his face into her coffee cup for any cold traces of her drink.

"I can make you your own cup ya know," Divine grumbled, gently tipping it up to let the last few droplets drain down onto his tongue.

"Meh," he shrugged, lapping them up. He smirked up at her teasingly, knowing perfectly well they'd be having this same conversation again tomorrow. It didn't matter if he could have his own, because taking the last of hers, however little left, was always better. And as if he read her mind, he lovingly rubbed his face against her arm, and gave her a puppy dog eye. Divine pursed her lips and shook her head, rolling her eyes.

She lifted her arms up, knowing what came next. And sure enough, he crawled into her lap, or at least got as much of himself curled up on top of her as he could, even if it meant he was half sitting on the next step below her. She could feel him shivering against her. He also wasn't a fan of the cold despite how brightly the sun shone.

Zach didn't seem to care one bit in comparison to them. Dressed in only mere shorts, he looked more ready to hit the beach than anything else. He was a happy clam nonetheless, stretched out in the fresh spring grass and rubbing his good shoulder into the dirt. Divine was already mentally preparing herself for another bath with him tonight. The part that he didn't seem to understand was that he wasn't allowed in the bed if he was covered in literal dirt and grass stains, and that maybe hey, if he didn't roll on the ground, he wouldn't have to get scrubbed down every night.

But he was enjoying the sunshine, at least. Divine still wasn't sure if he needed sunblock at any point, he hadn't developed any sunburns yet. Could he even get one? If the infected could still be burned by fire, surely they could still get a sunburn… Oh god, oh fuck. She couldn't help but worry now. 'Cause what if? Just what if?

"Zach, honey, maybe we should go inside and get dressed for the day?" Divine called out to him. He picked his face off the grass just long enough to look in her direction, and he visibly thought her suggestion over… And then he shook his head and rolled over. She wasn't remotely surprised by the response, but hey at least she tried?

Hunters by nature, were quiet beings. They had a tendency to make as little noise as possible while on the actual hunt, and gave a tell-tale growl and snarl before unleashed a trademark scream to announce "Hey guess what, you're dead now!" as they jumped. But when not in hunting mode, they were relatively silent, even in the midst of normal everyday activities.

At least, Divine wished they were just quiet by default. Or maybe it was her two that were particularly bad at their one, single job.

She was stirring a small pot of canned soup atop her camping stove, staring down at it with a grim determination. Behind her, both Hunters sat back on their haunches, taking turns "mnyeeeeh"ing at her. She scowled deeply.

"I already fed both of you," she hissed. "This is mine."

"Nyeeeeeh."

"I'm not fucking sharing with you if that's what you're hoping for."

"Nyaaaaannnh."

"You're both grown ass men, you do realize that right?"

"Meeeeeeeennh."

"We go through this every DAMN day, you guys," and she looked over her shoulder at them. They were looking up at her hopefully. "You do this on purpose, don't you. Because you like to torture me."

The Hunters glanced between each other, and her blood started to boil from watching their lips curl into knowing, smug, shit-eating-grins."

"Mnyeeeaaaanh" they cried at her in unison.

"Oh, begone vile beasts!" she snapped, looking back down at her soup. "Leave me and my Spaghetti-O's in peace!"

Within view of the house but still a good walk away, in the corner of the farm's first acreage was a big tree. It was tall, with branches that were just out of anyone's reach. With spring here, it held broad green leaves that shaded the ground below it from the sun. Divine greeted the tree with a soft "Hey," and gently traced her fingers over a carving in the trunk.

It was a fresh carving, only a few weeks old. A giant heart, with the letters "RySm", and underneath that was "1980-2010". It was very cheesy and middle school, but it felt like the more permanent option of a memorial. Divine took a seat at the base of the tree's trunk with her bowl of soup in hand.

"God, lunch time's always a hassle," Divine said aloud. "You'd think it'd get easier at some point, but I swear, those two find new ways to drive me crazy."

The leaves above her swayed gently from a breeze.

"Like, this shit isn't even good," she went on, spooning up some O-shaped noodles. "I can't believe I used to be obsessed with this crap as a kid. Now look at me, I'm a grown ass adult in pajama pants cooking this shit every day because that's all that's left these days. Who woulda thought ya know?"

She noisily slurped the spoonful up. She was used to eating it by now, but it still didn't keep her from complaining about it. In fact, she didn't have to particularly like it.

"Beats fucking MREs though," she said. "Honestly I prefer this to fucking dehyrated mac n cheese and brisket. How did we get as far as we did on those anyway? I guess being a zombie has its perks."

A few feet away, a robin landed in the grass to peck at the ground. Divine watched it over the rim of her bowl. If one of the boys had been out here, they'd be chattering and clicking at it excitedly. Even a voice in her head was excitedly screaming at her, birdbirdbirdbird!

"I dunno what I'm gonna do once I get sick of eating canned soup for kids though. I ain't fucking eating canned beans I tell ya that much. I will starve to death first," Divine grumbled. "I will wait three months for a tomato to grow and eat that first. And I hate tomatoes."

She leaned her head back against the tree trunk and looked up.

"I dunno if this farming shit is gonna work out. It's hard ya know? I'm reading all these books this couple had lying around, and man… It looks a lot easier in video games when you just gotta press the A button over and over again. It's such bullshit…"

The robin flew off, and she watched it go, slurping away at her soup. Here, under the tree, the world felt so calm and still again. Another small moment of feeling like the only person left again. Just her and the tree, with the big blue sky above them. The earth was still turning, nature was still going, and she was still there. And yet there was still so much to do. She drained her bowl, and scrapped up the last of the noodles. She stayed put for another few moments before finally she sighed and finally got up.

"Well I gotta go give Zach some vicodin before he blows out his shoulder doing something stupid again," Divine announced. She turned back towards the carving in the bark and traced it over again. "Talk to you later, Gasbag," she promised in a soft whisper, then went back to the house.

A boombox, recently looted from an abandoned Radioshack, softly played "The Best of the Oldies" from atop the fireplace mantle. Zach was laid out across the couch, snuggled into a cushion, and mumbling tiredly. Divine sat on the ground with her back against the couch, notebook and pencil in hand, and Toni curled up next to her.

In her notebook, she carefully etched the best approximation of a Witch hand she could manage. Long, spindly, and grotesquely disjointed. She'd have to find a colored pencil or something later to fill the nails in with. She constantly questioned if Witches had red nails from the blood of their victims, or if it was their own blood from their bones suddenly sprouting out of their skin. Could have been both. It wasn't exactly something she could just waltz up to her friend Raven and ask, because that was beyond awkward for starters. And she couldn't exactly just reach out and take her hand either, not because that was awkward, but Raven always had to be busybusybusy with her hands so Divine never really had a chance to observe them when they were still. This was just all her best guess work.

Finished with her sketch, Divine stared down at the page, and tapped the eraser end lightly against her knee. Then she looked at her own hand, calloused and pale. Blunt nails on blunter fingertips. Nothing out of the ordinary there. Keeping her hand out, she quickly started sketching it best she could. Most of the infected had hands like her, didn't they?

Okay, the Commons did. Ryan did, so surely other Smokers had as well. Did Boomers? How would she know though, they were usually lumpy little legs on the ground before she had a chance to look. And Hunters-

Well she knew all about that.

Without asking or prompting, she reached over and pulled up one of Toni's arms. He whined at her in disgruntlement as she draped it across her knee, letting his hand brush over the opposing page, and she started to sketch that too. His nails were long and overgrown, also more set into the bone, but jagged in shape. Designed to shred, not particularly slice. Still didn't wanna get caught on the end of those bad boys.

"Thank you for being my model," she said, lifting his hand and kissing the back of it once her sketch was done. "You're so good and patient."

"Uh huh," Toni grumbled, lazily pulling his hand back.

"Nah, I mean it, you're so helpful," she smiled. He grunted back at her. Divine chuckled and turned her attention back to the page. After jotting down a few quick notes, she sighed, setting the notebook down. Still sitting, she stretched her arms and legs out, hearing a few bones and joints pop noisily. Groaning, she relaxed back against the couch.

Still feeling a tad restless, she glanced down at Toni, then reached out to tug his hood back enough to expose the top of his head. He began grumbling at her, which quickly faded away the moment she carded her fingers through his hair, and the grumbles were replaced with a rattly purr. In his comfortable glee, he stretched out beside her, twisting until his belly was up. Divine switched from just running her fingers through his hair, to carefully scratching at his scalp.

His eye was closed shut, his lips curled, looking like a content housecat. Divine dragged her fingers down his cheek to hook them under his chin and resume scratching there. The purrs increased in volume as her thumb rubbed against the small, dark curls sprouting out from the bottom of his jawline.

Her gaze drifted down past his clothed stomach to… His very toned, and well muscled legs. She had never really thought about it a whole lot, the legs of her Hunters. She saw them all the time of course. But they were just so… Different from everyone else's legs. It made her look at her own legs. No where near the same as his. Definitely toughened from months of walking, but they didn't have the same tightness that Toni's did.

With her free hand, she reached down to poke at her quads. Kinda squishy. Then she reached over to poke Toni's. It felt like she had hit solid muscle. Well, that sure was something! Divine reached for her pencil and flipped her notebook open to the next, fresh page to start taking notes. Toni's purrs died off when she removed her hand from his chin, and used it to prod along his leg.

His purrs were quickly replaced by warning growls.

"No hold on, this is for science, I promise I wasn't tricking you," Divine said with zero assurance in her voice. She knew she fucked up, suddenly taking away scritches for prods. But this was important, just for a minute. She started feeling his leg up with both hands, marveling over it. Thick, but most assuredly springy, with the way Hunters could leap over several yards with little effort. Hell, they could give circus acrobats a run for their money with how much more flexible they were than the average, uninfected human.

Shit, why hadn't she done this sooner?

The warning growls increased in volume.

"I know I know, hold on," Divine said quickly, trying to feel one leg and take notes at the same time. Then the leg started lifting, and she could feel herself going with it. "Wait, wait hold on- Just a little more- Toni- Toni please no, wait let me just- Okay no put that down-"

She made the mistake of dropping the pencil to try and push his leg back down. Big mistake. Because it didn't take much for him to suddenly flip her off and away from him. She crashed into the floor with a hard thump, "Oof!" she cried.

Fuck.

How did he do that?

"Whooooaaa," Zach gasped.

"Did you see that?" Divine grunted, pushing herself up to her elbows.

"That's craaaaazy," he drawled. "You're just… Gonna let him do that?"

She quirked a brow at Zach, then looked back to Toni. He was glaring at her, but also watching her carefully. He wasn't all cute poses and stretches anymore, he was very much now on alert. Yeah, was she gonna just let him throw her around? Zach was too stoned on the couch to do much else other than comment on it. So where did that leave her?

It was like something had changed, like a switch had been thrown, and there was a charge in the air. It felt like a challenge had been issued, a dynamic was thrown off balance and needed correction, but how? And for whom would it work out for?

She didn't know.

But it was out there.

The anticipation was too great.

So she gathered herself up, and jumped.

Not a good jump by any means. She was far too slow and uncoordinated for anything spectacular. Just leapt up and crashed down onto Toni, who was totally expecting it. They grappled one another, and went rolling along the floor locked in each other's grasps. It took next to no effort to have her pinned down. But not even in a serious "I'm gonna kill you" way. More like a "I'm just gonna sit on you a little to annoy you" way.

Toni stared down at her with an utterly bored look. Like seriously, she was gonna start shit and not even put effort into it? Yeah well fuck him, she didn't do anything, he started it actually. His look of boredom changed to shock once she actually grabbed him, and with considerable effort, she rolled them over and shoved him into the floor. The new look on his face was priceless. All her muscles were burning but she didn't care.

She got him.

"Get owned, noob," she taunted him between pants. He stared up at her wide eyed. His grip on her dropped away, arms falling flat with his hands beside his head. One of her fists was curled into the front of his hoodie, like she was two seconds away from stealing his lunch money. His chest heaved underneath her, his breathing rapid. But he didn't push her off. Nor did he cower under her. Instead he just looked up at her.

Like he was waiting for something.

And to be fair, she wasn't sure what she was supposed to be doing here either.

Of course she had seen the boys fight with each other plenty of times before. It used to be an every day, almost all day thing. Hunters were solitary creatures after all. They didn't form packs as far as she knew. Well, maybe some did, who was to say, just that in her personal experience, this was the only time she had two Hunters in a room ever. Even after all these months, sometimes they still had spats. Move over. Get out of my face. I want that. You annoy me. I need cuddles. I'm grumpy. I'm pissed off. I'm tired. All the usual things two growly idiots could tell each other without uttering any real words. And these were growls that Divine had more or less learned to interpret and differentiate between each other.

"Domination'' was a typical spat where the larger Hunter usually won because, well, he was bigger and stronger. Some real alpha male shit, if that someone believed in that shit. But she wasn't an alpha male. Toni was only slightly bigger than her, and only stronger than her by virtue of his mutation. And while her mutation was setting in, it hadn't made her that strong. Yet she had him under her in a surprise twist.

'Oh god,' she thought. 'I've upset the natural pecking order.'

She didn't want to be "dominant" over anyone. She just wanted to win or something, she wasn't sure.

Her fist slowly unclenched, the collar of his hoodie all bunched and crumpled. She didn't know where to put her hand. So she set it down next to one of his, effectively caging him in. Shit, this was worse. She felt so awkward. She never got into fights as a kid. How was this supposed to go?

Toni was still looking up at her. No longer surprised, but still just… Nervous. Scared. Anxious. Like he was looking right through her but right at her too. Like he was looking at her for the first time all over again. His face was a dusty pink amongst his paled tones. She realized her own face felt hot.

"...Sssssooooooo?" she heard Zach ask into the air. "Are ya gonna do it or not?"

Shit.

Fuck.

No.

Yes?

No way.

But what if-

Is this what they were doing all this time?

She thought she had it all figured out already.

But now?

Oh those sons of bitches.

Those assholes.

She couldn't believe it.

Fuck.

She looked down at Toni.

They didn't have to.

She sat back and scooted off him. She wouldn't make him.

But he sat up after her-

And crashed himself into her.

Just for a tiny bit though.

Long enough to realize, oh shit.

And just long enough to enjoy it, in a flattering way.

And then he was gone, rocketing off into some far corner of the house in an utter panic. She fell to her back, hands covering her face. What the fuck was that? What the fuck, what the absolutely fuck, what the fucking shitting hell-

"Sounds like it went well," Zach yawned. "Tell me how it was later," he mumbled as he drifted off to sleep.