day 18

my hands are unsteady as i write this. i am now officially an ex-zombie.

i was freerunning over a delerict old ruined building in north roftwood when part of the roof gave way and i fell to the street, twisting my ankle. all the nearby buildings were too heavily barricaded for me to enter, and i was getting weak from the day's exertions. but i heard a cry for help and, against my better judgment, headed towards it.

a lone survivor stuck outside a locked building, like me. two zeds were on him. feeding. there was nothing i could do, and i stayed hidden.

but the detour had sealed my fate. i ran out of strength and fell into the catatonic stupor that plagues malton's living. i fell to my knees in the middle of the street and closed my eyes.

i never woke up.

at least, not as a human.

being zombified is like someone scooped out nine tenths of your brain and stuffed your skull with steel wool. you can't think. but you can remember. memories of terror, hunger, blind hatred. as a zed i could remember the feeding frenzy that turned me into a zed, the way my body was jerked this way and that by teeth and claws, the hot blood on my cold skin. i remembered it and i felt an overpowering desire to do the same to someone else. zeds eat each other too. make no mistake.

but here's the thing. willpower remains. through the hunger and the rage i forced myself to crawl towards moon way, which i always kept in the back of my mind after a group of soldiers told me to go there in case i was...turned. necrotech scientists would experiment on zombies there, they said. make them human again. i laughed at them, but i couldn't forget the story.

i crossed north roftwood into edgecombe, crawling on all fours. it took all my strength, and i fell asleep. zombies, it turns out, need shuteye as well.

i woke up and there was a man in a torn and blood-soaked dark red tie and blood-soaked black jacket standing over me. ha had a syringe in his hand. he muttered something to me and jabbed the needle in my arm.

white lights shot around inside my skull and i fell in a convulsive seizure. he held me down, pinning my arms with his kness, and hissed into my ear.

"be quiet. stay down and play dead. don't walk around half-dazed of you'll attract them. you'll smell like one of them for a while yet so you have time to rest. when you've fully recovered head for the peek arms, two blocks east. only when you've fully recovered. you'll be safe there."

and he disappeared into the darkness.

i woke up next morning, careful only to stand when no zeds were around, and headed for peek arms. i've been here a while, letting the shock and the revivication meds wear off, getting my head in order.