CHAPTER 4

Zachary had a dream, which was usually bad because often that meant it was going to devolve into his recurring nightmare where he had to kick that one poor crippled Belgian guy's hand off of his ankle, effectively leaving him to get brutally cut open and eaten alive by a bunch of Slashers and Cysts… However…

Instead of the lingering guilt of homicide by proxy, Zach found himself laying down under the oak tree in the back acre of his dad's house in South Carolina, just before sunset, hoodie unzipped and shirt untucked, his bag nowhere to be found. There was a familiar weight resting against his chest, and despite the urge, Zach couldn't find a reason to look down at whatever was there, until he heard it.

"I love you…" Spoken in hardly a whisper. Tilting his head, Zachary saw the Stalker resting against him, using his body as a pillow. She had a normal human complexion, had grown a full head of raven black hair, and was garbed in a simple blue cotton dress, though remained recognizable with her scarred left arm. Their eyes met, and the Stalker spoke again. "I love you, Zach."

Zachary felt himself jolt awake, damn near falling out of the twin bed he was borrowing, before rolling onto his back, and getting his heart rate under control. Getting up, finding he slept through his alarm by two hours, Zach hurriedly dressed himself, and left the apartment slinging his bag on. He didn't kick the Stalker on his way out, which was a good sign she'd leave him alone for a while.

Crossing the hall into the adjacent apartment, Zach peeked out the window and saw that there were only a handful of Zeds ambling around, few enough that he was confident he could slip past, or just jog away from them all. Quickly but quietly, Zach made his way up to the roof, where he picked a few vegetables for a quick breakfast, before going down to the fifth floor to take the food he'd set aside for his trip.

Stuffing the packets into his backpack, Zach paused as he heard feet pattering away behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, and reaching for his headlight, Zach realized it was missing. "Shit!" He muttered to himself, as he stood up, zipping his fully stuffed bag closed, and putting it on his back. Retracing his steps, Zach made his way back down to the fourth floor where it most likely was, guided only by the light on his otherwise useless keychain. His headlamp wasn't in the room he'd slept in, or the one across the hall where he thought he took it off. It wasn't in the living room where he'd tripped on the carpet and fell. It wasn't on the fourth floor, or the third, and he hadn't been down to the second floor since his second day, so it certainly wasn't there but he checked it anyway.

By the time the battery died on his keychain light, Zach had come to the rather obvious conclusion that the Stalker probably picked it up when he lost it the other night. Which meant it was probably hiding on the fifth floor. Walking up to her level guided by what little daylight made it's way into the building, Zach found the Stalker squatting on top of the office space centermost desk. Hands on the nearby partition, looking at him as he entered the room.

"You stole my light?" Zach asked, approaching the Stalker before she cloaked and jumped off the desk, knocking the long since dead phone off the surface. Following the sound of her footsteps, Zach saw a few papers fly as she jumped up onto the disused printer. "Look, I need to go, and I need my light." Zach said walking over to the printer, before following the sound of her footsteps again before watching a potted plant get knocked over, dirt trailing behind the Stalker for a moment as she made a circle around the office. "Where's my light?!" Zach asked loudly, as he followed the dirt trail.

Stopping at the end of the trail, Zach turned towards the Stalkers little nest, finding her uncloaked, curled up on the bedding material, holding something in her hands. The Stalker looked up at Zach, guilt written on her face. Zach approached her and she held his headlamp out. Zach took the lamp, and turned to leave, but before he could reach the staircase he heard the Stalker, sniffling. Turning, he saw the Stalker crying to herself. Not crying in pain, or for attention. She was crying silently.

Zach groaned, his compassion getting the better of him. It killed him to admit it, but the Zed had grown on Zach, and he hated the fact he'd probably never see her again. The Stalker was, among other things, cute in it's own goofy way, and gentle for a Zed, kind almost. And she… "She just wants me to stay with her." Zach said to himself, as he walked back over to the nest.

The Stalker looked as Zach set his bag down. Without a word the two made eye contact, and the Stalker scooched over in her nest. All things considered it was quite clean, but Zach was not willing to compromise. He took his sleeping bag out, unzipped, and unrolled it over the nest, creating a new layer of bedding. The Stalker looked down at the sleeping bag, before Zach sat down on it beside her.

Questioning nearly all of his decisions since he'd entered the building just a few days ago, Zach put his arm around the Stalker's shoulder and without prompting, she turned towards Zach and hugged him around his chest. The Stalker pressed her face into his hoodie, before Zach started to run his free hand's fingers through her gray hair to comfort her as best he could. "I'm sorry, but I have to leave tomorrow." Zach said.

The Stalker looked up at him, and as much as it made Zach feel disgusted, in equal he felt his heart melt. "Please stay." The Stalker said, as she scooted closer to Zach to press more of her body into him.

"I can't." Zach said, as the Stalker pouted. "It's not… Not safe here. I'm going somewhere without Zeds." Zach sighed, before he let go of the Stalker and started to lay down. The mid afternoon was as good as any other time to take a load off. As he lay down on his open sleeping bag, the Stalker cuddled up beside him, trying to wrap as much of herself around his body as possible. The two remained still, before Zach felt the Stalker beginning to grind her hips against his leg.

Thoughts raced through Zachary's mind. The Stalker was the first woman who he'd ever known to have an interest in him, Zed or not, and while her nakedness alone was in its own way ignorable, her affectionate display was quite noticeable. Nevermind the fact that the Stalker was even attractive by human standards, Zachary didn't know what moral lines were being, or were going to be, crossed if he acted on a steady growing impulse.

Technically Zed's were humans, or at least mutants, and Stalkers were less so mutated than, say a Crawler, but there was some sort of internet consent meme Zach remembered. The Harkness Test, if he wasn't mistaken. Intelligence, communication, and maturity. It had to be of human intelligence, must be able to communicate its desires, and can't be sexually immature for its species.

The Stalker was a well developed woman, as she was grown to be mature, clearly desired him, or else she wouldn't be stuck to his side, and her intelligence was… Questionable. She was smarter than the average Zed, that much was for sure but what quantified human intelligence? Was a caveman considered smart enough? A caveman would be definitively human, and the Stalker was easily as smart as an early homo sapien… Maybe smarter had she actually developed naturally and learned about the world.

Zach grunted in frustrated confusion, as he took his gloves off, and tossed them onto his bag. Even if he did fuck the Stalker and nobody ever found out, Zach would still feel guilty about it if she wasn't capable of understanding the situation. Zach looked down, as he heard the Stalker make a small sigh of pleasure. Their eyes met, and the Stalker smiled at him. "I love you." She whispered.

Zach sighed, mostly to himself. "I… I love you too." He said, before the Stalker raised her head off of his chest.

The Stalker cocked her head as she nearly sat up, looking at him, before placing her right hand on his chest. "I want baby." She whispered before swinging her leg over Zach to straddle him.

"You what?" Zach asked, propping himself up onto his elbows, before the Stalker leaned in and kissed Zach full on the mouth, leaving him unable to move in shock, before the Stalker broke away.

"I want baby." The Stalker whispered again, placing her hands on his shoulders to guide him back down to the nest. Suddenly any concerns about her intelligence disappeared, and Zach found himself unzipping his hoodie.


Bliss… Something Zach wouldn't have expected to find amid the apocalypse, but here he was, in his sleeping bag, cuddling with a mutated clone woman, in complete bliss. It was early in the morning now, and he needed to leave… The Stalker shifted in her sleep, hugging him closer… With a sigh, Zach laid his head back. He could get a few more hours of rest.


As dawn broke, Zach had gone about getting dressed, and packing his bag one last time, stuffing it full of extra food from the break room. He'd disturbed The Stalker's slumber, but she almost didn't seem to mind being woken up. Rather, as Zach slung his backpack on, and turned on his headlamp, The Stalker got to her feet. He said nothing, as he started walking towards the hallway, and she made no sounds of protest, as she began following him at a slow walk.

Her feet patterned down the hall behind him, and on the staircase as he descended to the building's first floor. Turning off his headlamp as he reached the main door, Zach unbound the firehose keeping the door barricaded, and slowly pushed the steel entryway open. He peeked outside with one eye, finding nothing but zed corpses in the street. The Stalker could be felt breathing down his neck, but all the same Zach, pushed the door open, and exited the apartment and office building.

He didn't run, rather, Zach briskly walked down the street, making good time eastwards. His plan was to first, compleat the original objective of getting the fuck out of Prague, then once in the far less densely packed suburbs, or countryside, find a car that wasn't dead, and get the fuck out of continental Europe.

On his way, Zach heard the sound of feet slapping against pavement, and almost foolishly, he assumed it was The Stalker. But of course, Zach was wrong. Right behind him, and approaching quickly, was a slasher. The ugly, half disemboweled, and spike covered zed clawed at it's own face as it approached, and Zach, doing as he normally would, began to take off in a sprint, only for the little monster to give chase. While he was able to put some distance between him and the zed, it was only enough for Zach to draw his suppressed Glock 17, and turn.

Just before he could pull the trigger, the Slasher seemingly had it's legs kicked out from under it, and the zed slammed it's skull into the pavement. Unsure of what else to do, Zack pulled his blade out and quietly jammed the knife into the downed mutant's neck, causing it to begin spraying blood all over the ground.

Convinced the creature was dead, Zach pulled his knife free, shook it, then wiped the blood off using his pant leg. He holstered both the knife and his pistol, before glancing around, looking for what could have hit the Slasher, causing a fall of that magnitude. Hearing a familiar chittering, Zach looked just to his right, seeing The Stalker become visible. She hissed at the exsanguinating body of the Slasher, before approaching Zach, and putting her hands on his arm, looking him over, like she was checking for wounds. Once satisfied, she put her forehead against his chest.

Unsure of what else to do, Zack held her head against him for a moment, before she pulled away, taking his hand. "Safe." She said. Zach squeezed her fingers with his own, and nodded.

"I'm safe." He said, as The Stalker sounded like she was cooing. Turning, though keeping hold of her hand, Zach started walking again. The Stalker didn't protest, and looked intrigued by the odd sensation of being led by her hand. "Guess we're both safe, eh ya' goof?" Zach asked, looking over his shoulder at The Stalker. "And I guess I'm gonna' have to start calling you something other than goof…" Mulling it over, Zach spoke. "Do you have a name?" The Stalker tilted her head inquisitively. "I've never told her my name…" Zach said to himself, before he stopped walking, and turned to face The Stalker.

Putting his free hand to his chest, he tapped himself twice. "My name is Zachary, Zachary Talyor."

The Stalker tilted her head the other way, before putting her free hand on Zach's chest. "Zach ah ree." She was close enough in her slowed pronunciation.

"Yes. My name is Zach." He said.

"Zach." The stalker repeated, smiling.

"What's your name?" Zach asked, putting his hand against her chest.

The Stalker looked down to his hand, then up to Zach, before blinking, like she had to remember the answer to the question. Her answer started off like a raspy sigh. "Raaaaaa… Ra-ra… Rach."

"Rack?" Zach asked, slightly confused.

The Stalker shook her head, and grunted. "Rach… RachelRachel." She repeated with a toothy grin. "I'm Rachel."

Zach smiled, accepting the answer. "Rachel. That's a beautiful name." Looking over his shoulder, and down the street they were traveling, Zack turned, keeping an eye on his new companion. "Come on Rachel, let's go."

"Where go?" She asked, following him, their hands still interlocked.

Zack, still smiling, looked to the horizon, as the sun rose before them against a pink and blue sky. "I don't know… But wherever we end up, I'm sure we'll have plenty of stuff to make a new nest with."

FIN.